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When yesterday we discussed the latest troubles facing embattled retailer Steinhoff, whose bonds are owned by none other than the ECB, we said that while the company’s bonds mature in 2025, its bankruptcy is at most months away. In retrospect, and in light of the latest news, that may have been optimistic, because it now […]
Two weeks ago, as part of our continuing coverage of the Steinhoff fiasco in which it emerged that the ECB was the mystery and (not so) proud buyer of just issued Steinhoff (now junk) bonds (maturing in 2025 but set for bankruptcy much sooner) and which lost more than half of their value overnight when […]
Two weeks ago, as part of our continuing coverage of the Steinhoff fiasco in which it emerged that the ECB was the mystery and (not so) proud buyer of just issued Steinhoff (now junk) bonds (maturing in 2025 but set for bankruptcy much sooner) and which lost more than half of their value overnight when […]
As expected, there was little surprise in the ECB monetary policy decision, which kept all three key ECB rates unchanged, and which announced that rates will “remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases.” As it unveiled before, QE will run at […]
Remember how the Fed, ECB and others all claimed ZIRP and QE were about generating economic growth, making mortgages more affordable, and helping consumers? Well, that was a gigantic lie. The truth is that every major policy employed by Central Banks since 2008 have been about one thing… Maintaining the bond bubble. Governments around the […]
The euro stumbled, dropping to session lows on Thursday after Eurostat reported that despite a welcome decline in Europe’s unemployment rate to 8.8%, the lowest level in 9 years, Eurozone inflation missed expectations, rising from 1.4% to 1.5%, below the 1.6% consensus expectations, reminding the ECB that Phillips curves around the globe remain broken and […]
Blain’s Morning Porridge, Submitted by Bill Blain of Mint Partners Europe is like a 4D game of Jenga, and Germany is a very wobbly block – as are the banks Europe is an enormous 4 dimensional game of Jenga. At the moment there are far too many blocks in play. Some of them are likely […]
Having successfully pulled off the announcement of the ECB’s “dovish taper” – where monthly bond purchases will be halved to Euro 30 billion from January 2018 – last month, a challenge for Mario Draghi in Q1 2018 has appeared on his radar. The ECB’s bond buying ammunition is slightly less than analysts thought and there […]
US equity futures are higher, boosted by a bevy of better than expected earnings out of tech giants Amazon, Intel and Microsoft as Asian stocks and European shares climb amid the dovish sentiment unleashed from Thursday’s ECB update. Asian equities rose as investors bid stocks following strong corporate results from India to Japan. The MSCI […]
While the ECB kept all of its three key rates unchanged as expected, and also kept the pace of QE at €60 billion until the end of the year, confirming the numerous trial balloons overthe past month, the ECB announced that it would cut the rate of QE in half, to €30 billion “from January […]
Since the ECB launched its sovereign debt QE, initially known as PSPP, in March 2015 and later expanded to include corporate debt, or CSPP, in June 2016, the world’s biggest hedge fund central bank has created enough money out of thin air to purchase bonds with no consideration for price to grow its balance sheet, […]
While in recent days Bridgewater has been in the news not for its investing acumen (or lack thereof), or the outspoken, contrarian views of its founder Ray Dalio, but rather the recent spirited attack by Jim Grant who in not so many words hinted, if not explicitly stated, that there is something very rotten in […]
For all the excitement surrounding today’s ECB minutes release, they turned out to be a dud, with the EURUSD failing to move even 10 pips, and Bund yields largely unchanged. Contrary to expectations, the minutes did not disclose anything new, instead echoing what Peter Praet said on Monday. Of note, the minutes revealed that ECB […]
Talk ’em up, then slam ’em down. The familiar pattern of “clear and transparent” central bank communication was on full display moments ago, when following months of build up to an ECB taper announcement, the ECB used its favorite mouthpiece, Reuters, to “trial balloon” that an ECB decision over whether to announce a firm end-date […]
"If you want a friend in this market… get a dog," exclaims former fund manager Richard Breslow as he reflects on the farcical 'market' that traders contend with everyday. Via Bloomberg, If what is going on in the world wasn’t so serious, it would be entirely appropriate to describe any market moves that happen today […]