Wall Street Journal (January 9)
“The S&P 500 inched higher Monday, extending this year’s run of records. Stocks have begun 2018 on an upbeat note, buoyed by investors’ optimism over the global economy and bets that central banks are unlikely to pressure markets by raising interest rates faster than expected.”
Tags: 2018, Central banks, Economy, Interest rates, Investors, Optimism, Records, S&P 500, Stocks, Upbeat
Wall Street Journal (December 31)
“Global stock benchmarks have surged to multiyear highs or records this year, boosted by a rally in shares of technology companies, a synchronized pickup in growth around the world, and unexpectedly benign inflation readings that have kept central bank policy ultraloose.”
Tags: Central banks, Global benchmarks, Rally, Records, Stocks, Surged, Technology Inflation, Ultraloose
Institutional Investor (June 4)
Due to Brexit, “sovereign investors now consider the U.K. less attractive than they did a year ago and are instead favoring investments in Germany and India as part of a broader move to so-called safe haven markets.” The change in sentiment was identified through a survey of “sovereign wealth funds, state-owned pensions, and central banks polled by Invesco.”
Tags: Brexit, Central banks, Germany, India, Invesco, Investors, Pensions, Safe havens, Sentiment, Sovereign, U.K.
Institutional Investor (February 6)
Legendary bond investor Bill Gross believes the “$12 trillion now held by central banks is a permanent fixture of global finance, acting a bit like methadone. Methadone manages the craving, but does little to end the patient’s addiction.” He also posits that the U.S. would be in recession if it were not for the easing measures of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.
Bloomberg (November 10)
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) proved no match for the zero lower bound. “The Bank of Japan’s recent quarterly report says, in effect, that the central bank has done all it can do to raise growth and inflation, and that fiscal policy needs to step in and help.” The BoJ already “owns more than half of the ETF shares in the whole country” and is estimated to soon “be the biggest shareholder in 55 of the 225 companies in the Nikkei index.” Other central banks will follow Japan’s retreat. “The era of bold monetary policy experimentation that began with the global financial crisis is now drawing to a close.”
Tags: BOJ, Central banks, ETF, Fiscal policy, Global financial crisis, Growth, Inflation, Monetary policy, Nikkei, Shareholder, Zero lower bound
Institutional Investor (October 21)
“Negative interest rates are nothing new in Europe, where some central banks have effectively been charging depositors since 2014. But if rates stay below zero much longer, the region’s banks and institutional investors may have to rethink their portfolios to keep afloat.”
Tags: Banks, Central banks, Depositors, Europe, Institutional investors, Negative interest, Portfolios, Rates
Institutional Investor (July 18)
Following a tumultuous weekend with a failed coup, another police officer shooting in the U.S., and continuing Brexit worries, investors may want to consider “whether security and geopolitical threats to stability will undermine the impact of aggressive easing actions of the world’s central banks. A recovery in the Turkish lira and global equity indices and a retreat in gold prices, seemingly fueled by the coup’s failure, suggests that at least some parts of the market believe central bank policymakers still trump security threats when it comes to financial asset valuation.”
Tags: Asset valuation, Brexit, Central banks, Easing, Equities, Failed coup, Geopolitical threats, Gold, Investors, Lira, Police, Recovery, Security, Shooting, Stability, Threats, Tumultuous, Turkey, U.S., Worries
Bloomberg (October 26)
“Reality keeps beating BOJ’s inflation forecasts.” According to Bloomberg, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) ranks last or next to last in the accuracy of its forecasts for inflation and GDP when compared to other major central banks. The Bank of Japan has had to lower its inflation estimates for all four years from 2014 and now looks poised to follow suit on Friday with its release of updated inflation forecasts.
The Economist (February 21)
“Deflation can be a good thing. But today’s version is pernicious.” Prices have fallen in Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, indeed the euro zone as a whole, and “ultra-low inflation is also widespread. America, Britain and China each have inflation rates of less than 1%.” Should there be another crash, central banks would have little room to act. “The world is grievously underestimating the danger of deflation.”
Tags: Central banks, China, Deflation, Euro zone, Germany, Greece, Italy, Pernicious, Prices, Spain, U.S., UK
Washington Post (January 4, 2014)
On January 31, Ben Bernanke’s term as chairman of the Federal Reserve will come to an end as Janet Yellen’s begins. “Americans have been uneasy about central banks since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Jackson. But looking at Bernanke’s record, even the skeptics should grant that the country was lucky to have him when the crisis hit.” Bernanke “may go down as the most radical innovator in the Fed’s history — and one of the most successful.”
Tags: Andrew Jackson, Ben Bernanke, Central banks, Chairman, Crisis, Fed, Innovator, Janet Yellen, Radical, Skeptics, Success, Thomas Jefferson, U.S.
