Tag: Federal Reserve

Investors look to Fed for further clues on rates

Posted on by The INO.com Team

When the Federal Reserve offers its latest word on interest rates this week, few think it will telegraph the one thing investors have been most eager to know: When it will slow its bond purchases, which have kept long-term borrowing rates low.

The Fed might choose to clarify a separate issue: When it may raise its key short-term rate. The Fed has kept that rate near zero since 2008. It's said it plans to keep it there at least as long as unemployment remains above 6.5 percent and the inflation outlook below 2.5 percent.

Unemployment is now 7.6 percent; the inflation rate is roughly 1 percent. Continue reading "Investors look to Fed for further clues on rates" →

Despite Declining Deficit, Foreigners Aren’t Bailing Us Out, So the Fed Will Keep QE Going

Posted on by admin

By Bud Conrad, Chief Economist

The basic imbalance driving our economy is the government deficit, which spun out of control as a result of the Credit Crisis of 2008/9. But the sequester, improving tax base, lower interest rate, and elimination of stimulus spending have caused the big government deficit, while still extreme, to drop to half its previously nosebleed levels. Continue reading "Despite Declining Deficit, Foreigners Aren’t Bailing Us Out, So the Fed Will Keep QE Going" →

Rates of Interest

Posted on by admin

As the 10-year to T-bill yield curve chart makes clear, we are not in Kansas anymore.  We are in Wonderland and as you can see, in Wonderland interest rates and their interrelationships are at the center of events.

tnx.irx

Last week the bullish case reasserted itself across financial markets, but to argue that policy makers are doing anything better than pumping future distortions into the system is crazy talk along the lines of 'the world is flat' or… ‘the above chart is flat’.

Last week Ben Bernanke clarified for people that yes indeed the Fed will eventually taper its QE bond buying operation while making clear that Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) will remain as is.  I think that the average market participant is starting to settle in and get comfortable with the terms of our 'Taper to Carry'(T2C) plan, which sees the banks benefiting from borrowing short and lending longer. Continue reading "Rates of Interest" →

If You Missed Today's Up-Move, Don't Blame Us

Posted on by The INO.com Team

If You Missed Today's Up-Move, Don't Blame Us

yeahInterestingly enough, 24 hours before Ben Bernanke made his announcement and spruced the markets up dramatically, MarketClub's Trade Triangle technology picked up buy signals on the DOW at 15,340.09 and on the S&P 500 at 1,654.19. These signals came in a day before today's huge move to the upside.

If you're not yet a MarketClub member, I'd like to invite you to take advantage of our special free trial so you can see what MarketClub can do for you. Remember, MarketClub covers stocks, futures, precious metals, ETFs, mutual funds and foreign exchange.

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Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-Creator, MarketClub

More jobs needed to taper bonds

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Many Federal Reserve members agreed last month that the job market's improvement would have to be sustained before the Fed would reduce its bond purchases, according to minutes of their June meeting. Several felt confident that a pullback in bond purchases could occur soon.

The minutes released Wednesday echo remarks Chairman Ben Bernanke made at a news conference after the meeting. Bernanke said the Fed would likely slow its bond purchases later this year and end them around mid-2014 if the economy continued to strengthen. The bond purchases have helped keep long-term interest rates low to spur spending.

Since the purchases began in September, the economy has added an average 204,000 jobs a month, up from 174,000 jobs in the previous nine months. Still, unemployment remains a high 7.6 percent.

The minutes showed that Fed members struggled with how best to convey the Fed's thinking about its timetable for bond purchases. Some wanted to explain it in the post-meeting statement. Others felt the statement might be misinterpreted. In the end, most participants thought Bernanke should lay out the Fed's thinking in his news conference _ and stress that any pullback in bond purchases would depend on the economic outlook. Continue reading "More jobs needed to taper bonds" →