Could it be more about where the banks want to go versus where traders think the Fed wants to go?

Over the weekend, I spoke to my contacts in the banking industry trying to get a feel for banker sentiments on the Fed’s interest rate policy. The sentiments boiled down to the banks taking whatever the Fed decides in stride. As one contact put it, it’s about the money and the banks will take what … Continue reading Could it be more about where the banks want to go versus where traders think the Fed wants to go?

It is less about political interference with the Fed and more about the degree of interference.

There is ongoing concern of a threat by the Executive Branch to the independence of the Federal Reserve System, specifically influence by the Executive Office of the President on the decisions made by the Federal Open Market Committee on monetary policy. I do not think the issue is political threats to the independence of the … Continue reading It is less about political interference with the Fed and more about the degree of interference.

Will Bostic or Goolsbee say something that will move the markets today?

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president and chief executive officer Raphael Bostic and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago president and chief executive officer Austan Goolsbee will each deliver remarks today on monetary policy and issues pertinent to the districts within which their banks operate. President Goolsbee is a member of this year’s Federal Open Market … Continue reading Will Bostic or Goolsbee say something that will move the markets today?

Binary options: Miki Bowman speaks at 10:00 am today in the midst of intensified global risks …

Michelle Bowman, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s vice-chair for supervision, will speak at 10:00 AM EDT at the International Journal of Central Banking conference in Prague. As vice-chair of supervision, Vice-Chair Bowman is responsible for the Board’s understanding of banks’ operations, banks’ major risks, how well banks manage these risks and … Continue reading Binary options: Miki Bowman speaks at 10:00 am today in the midst of intensified global risks …

Binary options: Mitigating risks from information barriers in the foreign exchange markets.

When trading binary options, I am trading my expectations on certain events. I am entering contracts where one side of the contract has an expectation of some event, x, occurring and the other side of the contract has an expectation of some event, y, occurring. I am not trading a commodity, share, or currency. I … Continue reading Binary options: Mitigating risks from information barriers in the foreign exchange markets.

Why should you care about what others are betting in the markets?

Are markets valid? Lately I have been questioning the validity of markets, specifically whether markets are the result of organic interactions between humans or whether markets are State-constructed funnels for moving portions of monetary energy from consumers to the government via taxes. I have to be mindful that markets are not some linear, mechanical construct … Continue reading Why should you care about what others are betting in the markets?

Currency wars: Can the West afford an increasingly developed Africa, Asia, and Latin America?

The takeaway …. As I get ready for the release of the jobs report, a thought on the relationship between the world’s major geographic regions hit me. Do western nations, primarily the United States, the United Kingdom, and Eurozone, really want to see a developed Africa, Asia, or Latin America? Would development of these areas … Continue reading Currency wars: Can the West afford an increasingly developed Africa, Asia, and Latin America?