Banks continue to tighten lending standards across all sectors. This has eased a bit from the July survey. Banks continue to widen spreads across all sectors. The percentage of banks widening spreads has also eased a tad. Banks are not seeing increasing demand for loans. I'm just posting survey results for C&I loans, the graph is very similar for commercial [...]
You don’t have to take my word for it. QE doesn’t work and it never has. That’s not just my assessment, pull out any chart of interest rates for wherever gets the misfortune of having been wasted with one of these LSAP’s. If none handy, then just read what officials and central bankers write about their own programs (or those [...]
Central banking’s real monetary power comes from a different kind of printing. We’re all taught and told from the very beginning that it's derived from enjoying the money printer, the ability to stack currency at will. No. In actual fact, monetary policies are all money-less leaving “monetary” authorities to employ instead the press which prints words.Deciding which words, and more [...]
Even I’ve become numb over the years to some of the blatant mischaracterizations. Looking at any small positive number for whatever small economic account and declaring it the mark of a strong economy is standard procedure nowadays. But it’s the brazenness with which “they” are now attempting to discount the sudden reappearance of the minuses. I’ve said all along that [...]
The old adage is that strong and sustained economic growth cures many ills, if not all of them, so it is unsurprising that so many central banks would be so determined to create it. They are, surprisingly, limited in that endeavor as they always stop one step short of recognizing the shortfall. In other words, they will do everything (as [...]
On September 28, Mark Haefele, Global CIO at UBS Wealth Management, wrote at CNBC.com there was much more to the central banking offerings than currently employed. The implication, obviously, was a reassuring call to not heed any darkening outlook. Blaming that upon “overanalyzed data”, Mr. Haefele insisted that investors were becoming far too pessimistic given the potential monetarism yet untapped. [...]
So be careful what you wish for 'Cause you just might get it And if you get it then you just might not know What to do wit' it, 'cause it might just Come back on you ten-fold Eminem, Careful What You Wish For There was a collective gasp on Wall Street last week as the 3rd revision of 1st [...]
With everything going on in Japan and the US credit markets, Europe has slipped somewhat from the headlines. Part of that is now universal recognition of the durable depression facing the entire continent, no more denials about containment or rapid rebounds. But politicians and policymakers have still maintained that the currency portion of the crisis is over, and that the [...]
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