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Recent stories in US & Canada
"Strange days" meets "Nothing Rhymed"
James Bond and Auric Goldfinger were never close friends, even when playing a game of golf. And in economic reality, it rarely occurs that both assets - gold and bonds - go hand in hand. The main reason is that gold serves as a kind of inflation hedge which normally implies an environment of rising yields (and losses on bonds). ...
9/11 , ten years after
10 jaar geleden werd de VS getroffen door laffe terroristische aanslagen. Dezegebeurtenissen werden enorm gemediatiseerd. Miljoenen mensen beleefden rechtstreeks een groot drama. In de dagen na de aanslagen, ontstond een zekere massahysterie, die logisch was gezien de enorme impact van de aanslagen, en de media. Een jaar na de ...
US Real Politik, Boomerang Part II
Up until now, Obama's scalps on the domestic front have been scarce, certainly when it comes to economics. Admitted, the legacy of his predecessor in terms of financial market leverage excess was phenomenal. And it has become all too blatant that traditional policy remedies are far from sufficient/efficient to solve this crisis in ...
US Real Politik - Boomerang Part I
Politics and adapting to the new normal, it seems a bridge too far for many amongst us. And it's not restricted to Europe with its more than fair share of anglo-saxon media attention and frequent abuse. Pretty soon, it's back to Uncle Sam.During the silly season of 2011, we have witnessed a tough battle between bi-partizan ...
Something is rotten in the state of Uncle Sam
With the recent change in FED "speak" strategy, more transparent communication and the new composition of voting members within the FOMC - kingdom of the doves and the last hawk having left the building - market speculation is rising that a new round of QE3 will be announced very soon. On the desirability of such a new program and ...
House of Pain - Fed to the rescue, again
New figures on US home foreclosures were recently released and for some, it might even induce some feeling of optimism. So the worst is behind us ? Not yet, and certainly not as far as the FED is concerned. But let's first take a look at some basic stats.
Dear Mr(s) Credit Rator, Part II
In my previous posting dd 16/01, I forgot to mention some important leverage factors as well. I therefore take the privilege to give you an update with new numbers, taken from a very recent McKinsey study on global debt and debt deleveragingThe following chart gives you the facts on the composition of total debt across main ...
FED and 5 year "risk free" heading to 0% boundery
May you live in interesting times", so goes the English translation of a Chinese curse/proverb. And indeed we live in interesting times because the FOMC yesterday decided to shift the outlook on a 0% short term rate from 2013 to at least 2014. And at the same time, the FED made some choices on explicit inflation ...
The Bernanke critics are wrong ?
The answer is "yes", that is if you read today's main article on Bloomberg. The main story line being : "The criticism about the FED being inflationary is not fact-based. Unemployment is slightly improving but far from inflationary levels. And though several republican presidential candidates are claiming Mr Bernanke is the most ...
Central banking dilemma
The most recent FOMC statement was again an exercise in walking on eggs. Bernanke told the world things were brightening up and at the same time being extremely frustrated about the slow recovery of the labor market. On the latter, he is right : of the more than 8 million jobs lost since this crisis struck, 2 mio have been picked ...















