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The Eurodollar’s Soul; Part 2

By |2017-05-02T17:15:44-04:00May 2nd, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Part 1 is here. The story of the asset bubbles is one of eurodollars alone. We can tell so much of the history of the past few decades by examining its pieces. The primary component has been derivatives, these financial instruments that are largely misunderstood shrouded often by what can appear to be incomprehensible complexity. That their own purveyors more [...]

The Eurodollar’s Soul; Part 1

By |2017-05-02T17:16:26-04:00May 2nd, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

You could say that SunTrust dodged a bullet. The Georgia bank was itself an amalgam of smaller banks cobbled together during the deregulation of the 1980’s. On the one side were the Florida subsidiaries based in Orlando, what came to be known as the Sun Bank. On the other was the Trust Company of Georgia, both coming together in 1985 [...]

‘Dollars’ All Along, There Are No Winners

By |2017-02-28T17:13:34-05:00February 28th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on November 11, 2001. Its membership took a decade and a half to achieve, no small wonder given that when it started the process the country looked nothing like it did when it was complete. Even by 2001, the Chinese economy was growing fast, but that was nothing compared to what it was [...]

It Was ‘Dollars’ All Along

By |2017-02-27T19:21:17-05:00February 27th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Ross Perot famously declared the “giant sucking sound” in the 1992 Presidential campaign. The debate over NAFTA did not end with George H. W. Bush’s defeat, as it simmered in one form or another for much of the 1990’s. Curiously, however, it seemed almost perfectly absent during the 2000’s, the very decade in which Perot’s prophecy came true. Americans didn’t [...]

Woe Unto The First Decade Of A New Century

By |2017-02-08T11:44:56-05:00February 8th, 2017|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

On February 8, 2007, exactly one decade ago today, shares of New Century Financial, a former darling of not just Wall Street but the mainstream, plunged 37% in panicky trading. The day before, February 7, New Century reported expectations for loan production for 2007 to be 20% below 2006 levels. But the real bombshell was the reasoning for that guidance, [...]

The Business End Of Global Money

By |2015-06-09T10:47:51-04:00June 9th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

This morning HSBC announced plans to radically downsize its cost structure, mostly through cutting jobs. Most of the attention so far has been on the bank’s plans to use the expected profit boosts to fund a period of rising dividend expansion. Immediately, as a business, there is a bit of a conflict in that attempt as typically expanding dividends and [...]

China PMI Now Disappears

By |2014-09-30T11:46:37-04:00September 30th, 2014|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

There are major problems with PMI’s as anything like a useful indicator of anything actually useful. However, what has taken place recently particularly with regard to the Chinese version is outright silly, obtuse or intentionally misleading. Only one week ago, the HSBC and Markit "flash" PMI for China manufacturing rose from 50.2 to 50.5. The headline of the Bloomberg article [...]

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