The Economist (August 29)
“The background music of Donald Trump’s second term has been the sound of norms breaking. On economic policy alone, the president has used tariffs to usurp Congress’s taxing powers and launched attack after attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve, which he accuses of keeping interest rates too high.” While it may be “tempting to tune the noise out,” the Treasury’s recent intervention in bond markets “deserves to echo far and wide.” And “so long as government debt stays high,” more of these unconventional Treasury follies will probably ensue, but America will ultimately come to “regret Scott Bessent’s bond-market misadventures.”
Tags: Attack, Background, Bessent, Bond markets, Congress, Debt, Economic policy, Federal Reserve, Government, Independence, Interest rates, Intervention, Misadventures, Noise, Norms breaking, Regret, Tariffs, Taxing powers, Treasury, Trump, Unconventional, Usurp
San Francisco Chronicle (August 22)
“This week rising bond yields forced the U.S. Treasury Department into an unusual intervention and raised the specter of higher borrowing costs putting the brakes on consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy. It also sparked concerns that investors might finally be thinking twice about financing a seemingly endless flow of government borrowing.” The Treasury intervention could fail since it doesn’t address “the deeper forces pushing yields higher: federal debt above $40 trillion, persistent deficits, inflation concerns and heavy borrowing tied to the AI investment boom.”
Tags: $40 trillion, AI investment, Bond yields, Boom, Borrowing costs, Concerns, Consumer spending, Deficits, Economy, Financing, Government, Inflation, Intervention, Investors, Rising, Treasury, U.S., Yields Federal debt
Wall Street Journal (August 11)
“It was obvious when Tokyo and Washington intervened recently to stabilize the value of the yen that the intervention wouldn’t stick, and sure enough. The Japanese currency has commenced a new downward march, so perhaps it’s time for a new plan…. Absent fundamental policy changes in Japan, no intervention from anyone will prop up the yen indefinitely.”
Tags: Currency, Downward march, Fundamental, Intervention, Japan, New plan, Obvious, Policy changes, Prop up, Stabilize, Tokyo, Value, Washington, Yen
The Week (February 9)
“Climate change has led to a marked decrease in salaries across the country, including in places that haven’t experienced significant temperature changes. The problem is likely not limited to the U.S. and is expected to worsen without intervention.” With risks “expected to increase. The global economy could also be significantly altered and likely already has.”
Tags: Climate change, Decrease, Global economy, Intervention, Risks, Salaries, Temperature changes, U.S., Worsen
The Economist (May 4)
“It is easy for investors to lose a fortune in the financial markets—and even easier for governments.” When Japan tried to prop up the yen in 2022, the nation “spent more than $60bn of its foreign-exchange reserves,” but supporting a currency “is expensive and futile.” Since breaking the ¥160/$1 barrier, there are rumors of another intervention. As long as the giant interest rate gap exists with the U.S., Japan would be “wrong to try to prop up the yen.”
Tags: $60bn, ¥160/$1, 2022, Currency, Expensive, Financial markets, Forex, Futile, Governments, Interest rate, Intervention, Investors, Japan, Reserves, Yen
Bloomberg (April 30)
“Regardless of how pragmatic propping up the yen after such a poor run may sound, the question is whether it would be wise…. With US rate sentiments weighing heavily on the yen, an intervention would be no lasting solution in the event of a hawkish Fed pivot.”
Tags: Fed, Hawkish, Intervention, Lasting, Pragmatic, Propping up, Rate, Sentiments, Solution, U.S., Wise, Yen
New York Times (June 17)
“In many ways, the economic recovery from the coronavirus has defied the worst-case scenarios. Jobs, spending and markets have bounced back more quickly than expected, although they largely remain below pre-pandemic levels. This is mostly thanks to unprecedented government intervention, but many of those stimulus programs are set to expire soon. Then what?”
Tags: Coronavirus, Economic recovery, Intervention, Jobs, Markets, Pandemic, Scenarios, Spending, Stimulus, Worst-case
Washington Post (January 8)
“Money for war, but not for the poor.” Arguments over Mideast intervention overshadow “our failure to invest in or prioritize the safety and health of 327 million people living in the United States.” This “is also a threat to our safety and well-being.” In the U.S., 15% of children live in poverty, an opioid epidemic rages, suicide presents a massive threat, and life spans are actually declining.
Tags: Arguments, Children, Epidemic, Failure, Health, Intervention, Invest, Life spans, Mideast, Money, Opioid, Poor, Poverty, Safety, Suicide, Threat, U.S., War
LA Times (July 11)
Worried about an explosion of diabetes, California is investing $5 million in prevention efforts. The cause for alarm is a recent study which found that “46% of adults in California have prediabetes” while 9% of Californians are already diabetic. “Implementing the program should save $45 million a year because of those who end up not developing diabetes — and requiring less medical treatment — as a result of the intervention.”
Tags: Alarm, California, Diabetes, Intervention, Invest, Medical treatment, Prediabetes, Prevention, Savings
Institutional Investor (August 12)
“Disappointing sentiment data and continued conflict in eastern Ukraine” are leading to investor apprehension. “Slowing production levels and low inflation appear to leave the door open for European Central Bank intervention but political support for action from European Union leaders is still far from consensus. With a strong correlation between primary global equity indexes that has been noted by multiple strategists in recent sessions, deteriorating investor confidence in Europe is likely to cast a shadow over U.S. equity markets in the near term.”
Tags: Confidence, Conflict, Consensus, Disappointing, ECB, Equities, EU, Inflation, Intervention, Investors, Production, Sentiment, U.S., Ukraine
