Financial markets gave the Federal Reserve a standing ovation last week. At least, that was Barron’s interpretation. What did the Fed do to deserve it? “…the Fed did what everyone expected, signaling that it could raise interest rates at any meeting starting in June. Yet, Yellen and team still found a way to assure the […]
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address was delivered in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. He said, “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – […]
If you looked at last week from the perspective of the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, it might have gone like this: If you give the United States a positive employment report, Investors are going to ask whether interest rates will move higher. When they conclude the Federal Reserve may increase […]
“Well, I never heard it before,” said the Mock Turtle; “but it sounds uncommon nonsense.” It was an Alice in Wonderland week. European countries, companies, and entrepreneurs were getting paid to borrow money, and ordinary Joes with money in some European banks got letters saying the banks would be charging to hold their money. The […]
It was all Greek to investors. Last Thursday, things weren’t looking so good for Greece. Barron’s explained: “…Germany scotched Greece’s request for a six-month extension to its existing aid package. Athens had sought more time to renegotiate the Draconian austerity package imposed on the land of Pericles, to keep from going bust and, perhaps, being […]
What’s in an employment report? Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation Summary was full of encouraging data. Employment numbers for last November and December were revised higher which made 2014 the strongest year for job growth since 1999. However, 2015 isn’t off to a shabby start. The economy added just over […]
It’s true. January did not turn out to be the best month for U.S. stock markets. At the end of the month, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) was down about 3.1 percent. Before you start listening to pithy observations – the saying ‘as goes January, so goes the year’ has been making […]
There may be potential for a reality television program starring central bankers and the making of economic policy. It could be called, ‘The Real Central Bankers of the European Economic Community.’ Just imagine the last two weeks’ episodes. Two weeks ago, the Swiss National Bank shocked markets by unpegging its currency and sending the value […]
Central banks have been full of surprises lately, but not too many people saw this one coming. For aficionados of the board game Clue, here’s the gist of it: Thomas Jordan did it in Switzerland with monetary policy. Last week, Swiss National Bank (SNB) Chairman Thomas Jordan told the world the SNB would no longer […]