Reuters (November 11)
“Signs of weakness are emerging” across the Chinese economy where “exports fell; inflation slowed; new bank lending tumbled…. Despite the authorities bucking the global trend… and deploying monetary and fiscal easing this year.” The “unexpectedly weak run of Chinese economic data” raises “the heat on policymakers to deliver more stimulus measures, but it also shows the limited effect more monetary easing and infrastructure spending can have.”
Tags: Bank lending, Economy, Emerging, Exports, Fiscal, Global trend, Inflation, Infrastructure spending, Limited effect, Monetary easing, Signs, Stimulus, Tumbled, Weak, Weakness
Seeking Alpha (September 21)
“More and more countries/regions have succumbed to Japanification” with “the process of rapid debt accumulation, followed by monetary easing, which shields the government from the normal consequences of overspending.” And now, “the United States is following lockstep down the economic trail blazed by Japan.”
Tags: Consequences, Debt accumulation, Government, Japan, Japanification, Lockstep, Monetary easing, Overspending, Succumbed, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (February 15)
“Three years since Mr. Abe took power pledging to end two decades of falling prices and wages, followed by the launch of a massive monetary easing program by the Bank of Japan, headline inflation is still languishing around zero, real wages are falling and the economy has yet to achieve consistent growth.”
Bloomberg (December 1)
Not everyone is in line with the consensus view that the yen will weaken to 126 per dollar by the end of 2016. Among the most bullish, Morgan Stanley “expects Japan’s currency to strengthen to 115 against the greenback.” Factors behind this forecast include the historic weakness of the yen, the need for Japanese pension funds to repatriate money, improvement in Japan’s economy and a general overestimation of the BOJ’s commitment to monetary easing.
Tags: Bullish, Consensus view, Dollar, Economy, Japan, Monetary easing, Morgan Stanley, Pension funds, Yen
The Wall Street Journal (November 28, 2013)
“Investors are piling into bets against the yen.” Based on data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), “wagers that the Japanese currency will slide against the U.S. dollar have surged to the highest amount this year and are within striking distance of levels not seen since 2007.” With the Fed poised to taper and the Bank of Japan set to maintain and possibly expand its already aggressive monetary easing program, some expect the exchange rate to move to 110 yen versus the dollar.
Tags: Bank of Japan, CFTC, Currency, Dollar, Exchange rate, Fed, Investors, Monetary easing, Taper, U.S., Yen
Wall Street Journal (June 29)
“The real lesson of recent days concerns the Fed’s ability to exit from its extraordinary interventions. The mere hint that the Fed might eventually taper its bond purchases sent markets into anxious gyrations…. Imagine the uproar when the Fed finally decides to act, as it eventually must.”
Financial Times (January 25)
More should be done to stimulate growth in the UK. Monetary easing is essential. “The British economy is in the doldrums. Neither sinking nor sailing, just listing. Output is now flat. For all the drama in London of the past few years – from austerity through to the Olympics – the UK remains where it was.”
Tags: Economy, Monetary easing, Olympics, Output, UK
The Economist (October 22)
“While Monday’s trade gap increases the chance the Bank of Japan will embark on yet another round of monetary easing amid a liquidity trap, the government has recently signalled its intention to launch a new stimulus. However, don’t bet on a pro-growth fiscal game-changer.” Any stimulus will probably “prove too little, too late.”
Tags: BOJ, Government, Japan, Liquidity trap, Monetary easing, Stimulus
