yellen

The September Fed meeting issued few surprises; fed funds were not hiked, as was telegraphed by the Brainard speech. While the Fed maintained interest rates, in the press conference, Yellen once again, found a way to interject incremental dovishness, driving interest rates lower, and asset prices up. The playbook of the Yellen Fed for the…

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janet yellen dove

The Yellen Put, follows a line of Federal Reserve inspired put options, valuable to market participants of specific Fed Chair eras. The rationale behind the Fed Chair put is simple; with the Federal Reserve so vigilant to support any downtick in the economy and/or markets with interest rate cuts (Greenspan), quantitative easing (Bernanke), and ZIRF…

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bear1

It’s been a difficult market since the dog days of summer. After 10-months of exceptionally low volatility, a fierce downdraft set in during mid-August. Lower stock prices, and volatility, will persist, simply because the conditions to go right back to the old dynamic aren’t in place. There isn’t enough global growth to support stock prices…

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dove cartoon

The Fed’s lack of policy response, and subsequent press conference, evokes memories of a scene in Bronx Tale… What’s going on here?  Now you can’t leave.  I will never forget the look on their faces.  All eight of them.Their faces dropped.  All their courage and strength was drained from their bodies.  They had a reputation for breaking up…

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yuan

China is at the end-game of its great economic transformation. Multiple iterations of 5-year plans, and flawed central economic planning, created a massive build-up in debt that can no longer be continued. China’s debt fueled growth is understood, but the impact of the deleveraging phase is becoming evident in real time. Various estimates of China…

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stanley fischer

Stanley Fischer delivered a critical speech this weekend at the Jackson Hole, Economic Symposium, outlining the Fed’s forward looking view on inflation and the potential for a lessening of factors that dampen inflation. This speech signals the Fed is staying the course and determined for rate hike lift-off on the advertised time-table. CJF interprets this…

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samba dancer

Not out of the woods yet – no way. The world has changed in the past week, and unmistakably, extreme volatility (mostly of the down kind) is back within financial markets. The potential of Fed rate hike cycle, in the not too distant future, is wreaking havoc. An unintended consequences of the extended period of…

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paranormal

PARANORMAL: beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation, not in accordance with scientific laws. A great friend of mine, and incredibly savvy investor, recently pointed me to Bill Gross’ January 2012 Investment Outlook: “Towards the Paranormal”. He suggested it was an intriguing, provocative, and worthwhile read. After reading the four page monthly I…

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