A high school classmate shared with me her concern about looking for higher yielding accounts. Baby boomers closing in on retirement are either trying to accumulate more cash via compounding interest while saving more of our incomes and sticking those savings into accounts. Meanwhile the media is guiding our eyeballs and eardrums to the messaging … Continue reading The Fed narrative and depositors. Is there a conflict?
I swear sometimes that Bloomberg, Reuters, and Yahoo! Finance are nothing but mouthpieces for the Federal Reserve System. During my brief stint as an analyst/editor with Telecommunications Reports, a standard mode for gathering intel on regulatory agencies was to sit next to the fax machine waiting for a press release. We would then confirm the … Continue reading Does the media focus too much on the Federal Reserve?
During a discussion tonight with friends, the issue came up about whether the Biden administration has created a good economy. One participant decided to put out there for consideration the economic data points often cited by the mainstream media. The participant cited inflation, arguing that inflation has been coming down under the Biden administration, moving … Continue reading Good economy? Bad economy? In the end, can you make a trade?
It is CPI Day in America. Bloomberg Economist expects a 0.3% increase in February consumer prices. On a year-over-year basis, the consensus is 3.7%. I guess we will find out how in line the consensus is with the actual numbers in 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s international community is looking at the following foreign exchange rates … Continue reading It is CPI Day. Hold on to your inflation horses …
The pound-dollar and euro-dollar were flat today, 27 February 2024, with the dollar yen making the biggest move between 9:14 am and 4:15 pm. According to data I obtained from Bloomberg, the GBP/USD increased three pips, from 1.2682 to 1.2685. The EUR/USD decreased four pips, from 1.0848 to 1.0844. The USD/JPY increased 1600 pips moving … Continue reading Again, foreign exchange and bond yields looked flat today and I wonder if the US really wants lower rates.
In comments made last week by a number of members of the Federal Open Market Committee, traders and investors should hold their horses on a cut in overnight banking rates anytime before June 2024. There appears to be some sentiment among Committee members that reducing the overnight lending rate between banks (federal funds rate) and … Continue reading I see baby Boomers seeking yield. Will the U.S. central banking system accommodate them?
I admit that I watched last night’s last minute press conference hoping for something spectacular from U.S. president Joe Biden: an announcement that he was leaving the race. The first few words from his lips and I figured that Mr Biden was opting to continue on the road to the presidency. Mr Biden took the opportunity to … Continue reading It is as if the markets expected a Biden gaffe…
As of 8:39 am, at a strike price of 1.0875, the monthly call options for the EUR/USD were out of the money given the market price of 1.074. Call options on the underlying EUR/USD futures were also out of the money with futures on the currency pair quoted at 1.07655. The opposite holds for owners of … Continue reading At 8:39 am, are EUR/USD FX options out of the money?
The Federal Open Market Committee issued a decision last Wednesday to maintain the target range of its federal funds rate between 5.25% and 5.50%. For banks that need to borrow from the Federal Reserve System’s discount window, rates for this lender of last resort facility is at 5.50%. Within the interbank market, banks will continue to see … Continue reading The Federal Reserve, banking, and managing political theatrics ….
Lawyers Write the Bets. Bankers Sell the Bets. 