Economics and Finance News

Over the weekend, Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer wrote an article titled: How the Federal Reserve can really help America. His error is as old as the word “Socialism” itself. The author seems genuine in wanting a better society, but his misguided belief is that the way there is through better planning from the government and the Fed. Unfortunately...

American Postal Workers Union Opposes Mandatory Vaccinations "At This Time" Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times, The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has said that it opposes mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, amid reports that the White House is considering so-called vaccine passports as a condition of employment for federal employees. The union, which represents […]

President Joe Biden will let a nationwide eviction moratorium lapse as scheduled on Saturday, despite pressure from Democrats and housing advocates who warned that a wave of people were at risk of losing their homes just as Covid-19 cases surge.

The dollar slipped to a one-month low on Thursday, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve's reassurance that interest rate hikes remain distant helped put the brakes on the U.S. currency, which has been rallying for a month now.

Ugly, Tailing 7Y Auction Pushes Yields Higher After two solid auctions earlier this week ahead of the Fed which many rates experts predicted would tail (neither did), few were too concerned about today's sale of $62BN in 7Y paper. Well, maybe they should have because while today's auction was certainly better than the catastrophic, "failed" 7Y auction in February it was the ugliest […]

Goldman Downgrades China Stocks After Clients Ask If They Are Even "Uninvestable" Any More After a rollercoaster move in Chinese stocks following a regulatory crackdown that has prompted many to wonder if China is doing away with capitalism in capital markets entirely (having declared the entire tech-edu space non-profit overnight), Goldman's clients have had enough and are […]

Auditors Finish Counting Ballots In Arizona's Maricopa County Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, Auditors in Arizona’s largest county on Wednesday finished a third count of ballots and will shift to compiling a draft report on the audit results. Workers overseen by retired auditor Randy Pullen, a former Arizona Republican Party chair, completed the third […]

Robinhood Crashes Below IPO Price After Disappointingly Low Retail Interest Update (1230ET): HOOD is trading with a $33 handle now, well below its $38 IPO price... But hey, it's better than BATS... for now. Reminder... COIN IPO was the crypto top HOOD IPO will be the retail top — zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 29, 2021 *  *  * As we reported last night, Robinhood sold 55 […]

Tokyo Suffers Third Day Of Record COVID Cases As Star Pole Vaulter Infected Thursday has been another difficult day for the Tokyo Games, as more athletes, including US pole vaulter Sam Kendricks - a world champion widely seen as a contender for the gold, who is known to many for stopping mid-run to stand for the national anthem - was removed from competition after testing positive […]

Peter Schiff: It's Game Over If The Markets Call The Fed's Bluff Via SchiffGold.com, The Federal Reserve insists inflation is “transitory” and the economy is making “progress.” Yet, it continues with the extraordinary monetary policy it launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, we’re seeing all kinds of data hinting that the economy may not be as great as […]

...Others believe that China is intent on displacing America as the world’s pre-eminent power and is fast acquiring the means to do so.

SPECULATION is growing where the next global conflict may break out in 2021 as global powers modernize their nuclear arsenals and tensions between nations mount.

Great News For Cryptocurrencies: Senate Budget Deal Hinges On Billions In Crypto Taxes First the bad news: as part of the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal, lawmakers quietly snuck in a provision imposing stricter rules on cryptocurrency investors to collect more taxes to fund a portion of the $550 billion investment into transportation and electricity infrastructure. […]

MOSCOW, July 29 (Reuters) - Russia and China will conduct joint military exercises involving 10,000 troops in mid-August, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defense ministry as saying on Thursday. Moscow has sought to boost relations with China since 2014, when its political ties with the West sank to post Cold-War lows over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Shrinkflation, Inflation's Sneaky Cousin, Is On The Rise Authored by Klajdi Bregu via The Mises Institute, Inflation has been on the rise for the past year and in the last few months it has accelerated. In June 2021, inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), hit the highest level since 2008. By inflation, economists refer to the increase in the general level of prices, […]

Biden Urges Congress To Extend Eviction Moratorium In 11th Hour Plea President Biden has asked Congress to extend an eviction moratorium set to expire on Saturday, saying in a statement that while he would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to do so, "the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available." "In June, when the CDC extended the eviction […]

Some of the heat was taken out the escalating China Syndrome yesterday when the Chinese regulator held a “secret” meeting with global firms, while Jay Powell took the pressure out of immediate taper fears. Both issues remain sources of massive future pressure on markets – they are sorted for now, but not resolved!

Lawmakers Accuse NBA Players Of "Profiting Off Slavery" Via Chinese Sponsorship Deals We joked earlier that Thursday would likely be another wild day for China-related newsflow, and so far, we haven't been wrong. As political tensions between the White House and Beijing intensify (even as Beijing looks poised to back off its ban on future US IPOs) Politico reported in its "China […]

Rabo: Capitalism? Communism? Fascism? Markets Are A "Step Closer" To A New Ism By Michael Every of Rabobank A step closer...but towards what? The Fed came, the Fed saw, and the Fed did what we all knew it was going to do: be extremely dovish. Fed-watcher Philip Marey titled his note ‘Pussyfooting’, in that there was not even advanced notice of any advanced notice towards […]

The Fed is trapped and is limited to all talk, no action. What comes next in the market?

Game over. Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation is often the best one. Central banks will never extract themselves. Whether they ultimately end QE is besides the point. They won’t reduce their balance sheets. They can’t. Powell’s “performance” yesterday was not an accident. He’s been running on the same theme of offering absolutely zero specifics.

Yields Rocked By Surprise Apple Bond Issuance Last Friday, JPM's Nick Panigirtzoglou asked a question: just how illiquid is the Treasury market - still viewed by many as deepest, most liquid market on the planet - and whether the recent rollercoaster in bond yields was first and foremost a function of growing Treasury lack of liquidity (spoiler alert: a lot). Fast forward to today […]

The US dollar has been around for a long time. But will it last much longer? While the dollar has been in existence for over 200 years, the current fiat version -- which isn't backed by any hard collateral like the gold and silver it once was prior to 1971 -- is only now just turning 50 years old.

The International Monetary Fund must ramp up its resources as it seeks to "monitor, advise on, and help manage this far-reaching and complex transition" to digital money, according to an IMF paper published on Thursday. Digital money can make payments more accessible, faster and cheaper, the paper said. “The Fund has a critical role to play to help...

The second largest U.S. bank said that the rise of CBDCs was "inevitable."

Repos are different from QE; they’re in-and-out transactions that don’t endlessly pile up, unlike QE.

US Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Tumble In June "Due To Huge Spike In Prices" After rebounding surprisingly strongly in May (despite weakness in new- and existing-sales), pending home sales were expected to be unchanged in June, but instead they dropped 1.9% MoM, pushing pending home sales down 3.29% YoY... Source: Bloomberg “The moderate slowdown in sales is largely due to […]

After rising in May, signed contracts on existing homes fell in June due to sky-high prices.

The ideal bagholder is one who adds more on every downturn (buy the dip) and who refuses to sell (diamond hands), holding on for the inevitable Fed-fueled rally to new highs.

U.S. stock futures were mixed early Thursday morning after the Federal Reserve made no move on asset purchases.

Report Blames Credit Suisse's "Lackadaisical" Risk Management For Failing To Act On Archegos "Red Flags" More than four months after the Archegos blowup rattled markets and dealt a serious black eye to Swiss megabank Credit Suisse, the law firm hired by the bank to investigate what went wrong has finally released a report on its findings. Readers may remember that the half-dozen or […]

Former Nikola CEO Milton Charged With Three Counts Of Fraud By DOJ, SEC Files Parallel Charges It looks as though former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton has rolled down the hill face first into reality this morning. That's because multiple sources are reporting that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan is charging Milton "in connection with their investigation into allegations of fraud […]

On today's daily watchlist our main focus is Gold and the USD. After yesterday's FOMC day the DXY broke the reversal pattern that we had been following for over a week now. We remain very long biased Gold, even more after yesterday's Inflation speech by Chairman Powell.

China Shorts Crushed As Retail Investors, Plunge Protection Team Triumph Having always reflected jealously on the liquidity and transparency (cough, cough) of US capital markets, China decided this week to once again take a page from America's political playbook and unleash its own Plunge Protection Team. The so-called 'National Team' stepped in after Beijing's crackdown on various […]

Watch: Ted Cruz Blasts Mask Mandate Reversal "A Virtue Signal Of Submissiveness" Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, Texas Senator Ted Cruz responded to the CDC’s announcement this week that all Americans should wear face masks again, even fully vaccinated people, by labelling it the ultimate “virtue signal”. Speaking at a Senate hearing, Cruz said that while he […]

China Syndrome And Taper Tantrums Authored b Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com, China Syndrome and Taper Tantrums – just two of many things to fret about… Some of the heat was taken out the escalating China Syndrome yesterday when the Chinese regulator held a “secret” meeting with global firms, while Jay Powell took the pressure out of immediate taper fears. Both issues […]

The number of Americans filing for first time jobless claims was worse than expected last week, at 400k (vs 385k expected). The silver lining is that this was a drop from the prior week's 419k...

Today's first estimate of Q1 GDP growth is expected to show the US economy growing at a whopping 8.5% rate as government aid and vaccinations fuelled spending. The problem, as discussed recently, is that it's all downhill from here with Goldman recently slashing its GDP outlook and expecting growth to slide to a muted trendlike 1.5%-2.0% by the end of 2022.

Initial Jobless Claims Disappoint As The Number Of Americans On The Dole Rises Back Above 13 Million The number of Americans filing for first time jobless claims was worse than expected last week, at 400k (vs 385k expected). The silver lining is that this was a drop from the prior week's 419k... Source: Bloomberg Continuing claims rose very modestly from a revised 3.262mm to […]

GDP Huge Miss: Economy Grew Just 6.5% In Q2, Far Below 8.5% Expected On Surprise Inventory Drop Today's first estimate of Q1 GDP growth is expected to show the US economy growing at a whopping 8.5% rate as government aid and vaccinations fuelled spending. The problem, as discussed recently, is that it's all downhill from here with Goldman recently slashing its GDP outlook and […]

Gold prices rose to a more than one-week high on Thursday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reassured investors that a rate hike is not on the cards anytime soon.

Cryptocurrency tax enforcement is among several funding mechanisms agreed to by bipartisan lawmakers as part of their infrastructure package.

German consumer price increases accelerated in July, pushing inflation further away from the European Central Bank's target of close to or below 2%, data from six states showed on Thursday.

Michael Pento: First Disinflation, Then Deflation, Then Big-Time Inflation Suddenly investors are panicked that (hyper)inflation is taking over. But what if they’re mistaken? That could be a costly mistake if they're betting their portfolio’s future on it. Because there’s a strong case to be made that we’re now actually entering a period of dis-inflation, one that has a high […]

Increasing credit stress in China stemming from a government crackdown on a range of industries could spread to U.S. investors’ credit portfolios.Global high-yield fund managers suffering losses in their Asia credit portfolios could look to lower risk across their holdings, or to sell more liquid, high-performing bonds such as U.S. speculative-grade notes...

China moved to contain the fallout from a regulatory assault on tech firms that has rattled investors, with a top securities regulator privately telling global financial institutions that Beijing will consider the impact on markets when it introduces new policies.

The spread of the COVID-19 delta variant is raising infections, leading some companies and governments to require vaccinations and raising concerns about the U.S. economic recovery.

You’re in good company if you can’t figure out why U.S. Treasury yields are tumbling. Jerome Powell isn’t sure either.Bonds have relentlessly rallied for months, even as inflation spikes to 13-year highs. Textbooks and Wall Street lore say yields should be jumping instead of diving in the face of that.The Federal Reserve chairman weighed in...

The central bank is a step closer to winding down its bond-buying program, but some market pros say it could be months before the Fed announces a move.

The Pointless Drive To Make Masks Great Again Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities, Just when the forces of rationality had seemingly established a beachhead in the public health domain, they’re back on defense again, as the CDC declares vaccinated and unvaccinated people should wear masks indoors in areas of the country experiencing high transmission, and every […]

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned silicon supply constraints would affect sales of the iPhone as well as other products like the iPad.

U.S. Treasury yields were flat Thursday as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve's latest policy update.

A roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure investment bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, passing a key milestone that moves the emerging legislation toward formal debate and possible passage.

Tsunami warnings were lifted for Alaska and the rest of the Pacific after a huge earthquake of 8.2 magnitude struck the seismically active U.S. state Wednesday.

Futures Rise, Europe Hits Record Supported By Fed, China, Earnings World markets resumed their climb on Thursday after the Fed signaled it was in no rush to taper stimulus and reassurances from Beijing saw beaten-up Chinese stocks soar. U.S. equity-index futures gained slightly recovering earlier losses, except for Nasdaq 100 contracts, after mostly positive earnings, China’s […]

Sydney Sends In Military To Help Enforce Lockdown Amid Record Jump In COVID Cases Despite being locked down for nearly a month now, Sydney has just reported a record one-day rise in local COVID cases on Thursday as public health authorities warned that the outbreak would likely worsen, inspiring them to once again turn to the Australian military for help. According to Reuters, […]

Repos are different from QE; they’re in-and-out transactions that don’t endlessly pile up, unlike QE.

Admittedly, there isn’t much economic data released in the back half of every month. So, we’re sort of stretching our gaze into the second (maybe third) tier. But in this case, it’s just by way of reinforcing much what we already know and further what’s been suspected. Over in Japan, the government’s Cabinet Office gathers [...]

90.0: What is that thing's Value today?———Ep 90.0 Summary———Professor Sam Williamson, economic historian, explains how the value of commodities, projects and income/wealth should be properly measured across time (AND IT IS NOT WITH A CPI INDEX!). Otherwise, like a recent NY Times article, your worth may be off by a factor of 20!!!! ———See It——— [...]

Ceremony and ritual are not just important concepts for priming and keeping faith, they are absolute essentials. There’s a reason why cult leaders make themselves appear - at every instance - indispensable while at the same time keeping their masses busy with nonsense. Can’t ever permit thinking too much lest the house of cards crash [...]

Gold prices on Wednesday shook off initial declines to move higher after a Fed statement as chair Jerome Powell flagged lingering risks to the U.S. economy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the risk of inflation "could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expected" following a decision to keep the interest rate unchanged.

Ah, hefty “fees” & fat “spreads.” But wasn’t the promise of bitcoin to buy stuff without using fiat currency payment systems such as PayPal?

The Fed Announces Plans to Permanently Backstop Wall Street with a Standing Repo Loan Facility of $500 Billion…Starting Tomorrow By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 28, 2021 ~ You really can’t make this stuff up. A G30 Working Group Chaired by Tim Geithner, the former President of the New York Fed, that secretly sluiced $29 trillion to bail out the Wall Street banks from their hubristic […]

Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on labor markets, there is a spirited debate over whether the US economy is close to returning to its full potential. If it is, the US Federal Reserve is at risk of falling behind the curve.

The USD index gained foothold around the 92.50 mark, halting the two-day sell-off ahead of the Fed event. Overall, FX and equities stay range-bound suggesting market prefer to take wait-and-see stance before the major Fed updates. However, it’s quite possible that the Fed will prefer to take a timeout on major policy news till the Jackson Hole conference in August...

First is the Federal Reserve’s massive QE4 program, which in size and pace is a behemoth compared to the mortgage bond purchase programs seen during QE1 and QE3. This current QE alone now accounts for almost $2.3 trillion in mortgage bond purchases since March 2020, while the previous two QEs combined took down $2.75 trillion. The Fed now holds about 31% of the entire agency mortgage market on […]

The advance trade data on goods came out today. Let's have a look.

With so much focus being placed on the inflation versus deflation debate of late and many financial pundits declaring a new inflation paradigm is upon us, what better a time to argue the case for deflation. Back in March, I laid out the case for inflation in comprehensive fashion, now, as all good investors ought to do, I will present my case why the ...

"What is the ethics, James Buchanan asked, of a fiscal system under which incentives exist and come into play that enable the current generation of taxpayers and recipients of government programs to shift part of the burden to pay for them to future generations?"

A deep dive into the 336 components and subcomponents of CPI to better appreciate what is driving the inflation rate and determine its sustainability.

As was heavily hinted at in the June FOMC Minutes, moments ago in addition to its slightly dovish FOMC statement, the NY Fed unveiled that at long last it was establishing two standing repo facilities: one for domestic counterparties, and one for foreign and international monetary authorities (FIMA repo facility).

Investors will likely pay close attention to how Chairman Jerome Powell characterizes the economic outlook given the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19 and its timeline for tapering its monthly bond purchases.

The market's expectations for Fed action have surged hawkishly and tumbled dovishly most recently, leaving them basically unchanged since the last FOMC statement...

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its benchmark interest rate near zero and said the economy continues to progress despite concerns over the pandemic spread.

In other words, the Fed would need to cool inflation off by swiftly raising interest rates. Higher borrowing costs would slow or even derail the economic recovery.

Inflation has been on the rise for the past year and in the last few months it has accelerated. In June 2021, inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), hit the highest level since 2008.

A panel of former top global economic policy makers on Wednesday warned that major trading disruptions in U.S. Treasuries are likely to increase unless reforms are made, adding to pressure on American regulators to fix structural issues that contributed to last year’s market meltdown. “Confidence in the U.S. Treasury market, and its ability to function...

"The idea that they're somehow a protection or a hedge, I don't think that's going to be borne out over time," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNBC on Wednesday.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a teleconference on Tuesday that her biggest concern is that the CCP virus may be “just a few mutations” away from being able to evade vaccines.

U.S. Mega Banks Were Sitting on $6.56 Billion of Chinese Education Stocks that China Just Eviscerated By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 28, 2021 ~ According to their latest 13F form filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as of March 31, 2021 the U.S. mega banks on Wall Street held a staggering $6.56 billion in three Chinese education stocks that just had their business model […]

Raging mania house-price inflation.

People expecting to retire this year are facing debts around a fifth higher than those who finished work last year the research found.

President Joe Biden's latest leap into the Senate's up-and-down efforts to clinch a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal comes with even more at stake than his coveted plans for boosting road, rail and other public works projects.

Lawsuits seeking to preserve pandemic-era unemployment benefits are increasing as states across the country seek to halt the federal payments so residents will go back to work.

More and more informed observers are asking why, after 13+ years of the Federal Reserve’s increasingly aggressive monetary interventions, the benefits remain so skewed toward Wall Street over Main Street. A digital dollar could level the playing field.

It’s everywhere. At the White House. In consumer data. On earnings calls: Anxiety that inflation is about to gut the economy. Two places it isn’t are the stock and bond markets, where investors have taken Jerome Powell’s “transitory” mantra to heart. Breakeven rates -- a gauge of bond market inflation expectations -- have barely budged in a month...

The reason why the aftermath of pandemics push up real wages is because of the shortage of labor.

Executives who run companies making everything from airplane parts to cars and steak burritos are at odds with economic policy makers on how durable the recent surge in U.S. inflation will be and see higher prices hitting margins and profits through the remainder of this year, if not longer.

Gold prices held steady near the key $1,800 per ounce level on Wednesday as investors held back from making large bets ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision due later in the day. The Fed’s policy statement is due at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, followed by a news conference by Chairman Jerome Powell.

All-in-all it’s hard to point to a clear market catalyst from the upcoming meeting. However, with the curve so flat, the bias should be for some steepening. Beyond that, the hawkish tail seems fatter and longer than the dovish tail risk.

There's a growing chorus of experts who believe that the Fed may need to reverse course and start talking more aggressively about tamping down inflation. After all, consumer prices continue to rise. The stock market is near a record high. Wages are going up too.

The Pentagon and Republican congressmen on Tuesday aired fresh concerns about China's build-up of its nuclear forces after a new report saying Beijing was building 110 more missile silos.

"They knew exactly what we're going to do before we did it, and they took advantage of it," a US general revealed.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that if the United States ended up in a "real shooting war" with a "major power" it could be the result of a significant cyber attack on the country, highlighting what Washington sees as growing threats posed by Russia and China.

And as Americans get used to additional financial help, there are calls to make the enhanced tax credits permanent. That includes the child tax credit, and the temporary expansion to the earned income tax credit as well.

Investors are dumping the Chinese yuan and Hong Kong dollar as investors sell off China stocks this week.

Applications to refinance a home loan jumped 9% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

U.S. Treasury yields climbed on Wednesday morning, ahead of Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision.

Raging mania house-price inflation.

The Federal Reserve has done us a solid favor by opening wide its RRP window. Quite by accident, obviously, these policymakers hardly useful monetary stewards, we now have another indication, and a more direct one (though still indirect overall), relating on the surface two seemingly very different factors. The correlation found there between T-bills and [...]

We’ve spent months in US Treasury bill yields for a (very good) reason. There’s brewing trouble out there, and it’s not just caught the attention of overeager indirects bidding in UST bill auctions. The premium for those instruments is a nod toward growing collateral scarcity, a deflationary potential that is almost certainly a big part, [...]

On Friday we outlined the strange price action in gold. As a quick recap: Because we are in a fiat-based monetary regime, gold trades like any other asset. Specifically, gold typically tracks “real rates” or the actual cost of money …

Gold firmed near the key $1,800 level on Tuesday, as the dollar softened and U.S. real yields plunged.

China's net gold imports via Hong Kong jumped nearly 42% in June after a slump in May, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data showed on Monday.

General Electric said on Tuesday it is facing inflationary pressure that is set to intensify, particularly at its jet-engine business, for the remainder of the year.

The rental market is in turmoil after jobs and people left, and price discovery has set in. Falling rents are a market-based solution to the “Housing Crisis.”

With Chinese stocks in free fall, it was only a matter of time before Hayman Capital founder Kyle Bass - one of Wall Street's most vocal critics - showed up to say 'I told you so'.

When the Fed emerges from its July meeting on Wednesday, it may sound a bit more dovish than expected just a few weeks ago.

"Without significant monetary and regulatory reform, our recovery from the Covid-19 recession will not only not fix these negative conditions, but will only set up the U.S. for our next recession, one that will almost certainly be even more severe."

Why a glut of Treasurys and other "risk-free" investments could be an even bigger problem for the economy.

If America somehow managed to educate millions of college students without burdening them with $2 trillion in debt in 1993, why is it now "impossible" to do so, even as America's wealth and gross national product (GDP) have both rocketed higher over the past 27 years?

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows most disapprove of Biden’s handling of gun violence, immigration, and crime.

Home Builders Hold the Most Homes For Sale Since December 2008.

But They Bought More Expensive Homes than Americans. Purchases by buyers from China collapsed by 84% since the peak in 2017.

To have any chance of conquering Taiwan, China might need to transport as many as two million troops across the rough 100 miles of the Taiwan Strait and land them under fire at the island’s 14 potential invasion beaches or 10 major ports.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to reassure the Asia-Pacific that the U.S. was committed to engagement in the region, while vowing to challenge what he called China’s aggression.

Chair Jerome Powell must deal with growing dissension within his ranks.

"Over time, cities are going to need to conserve more and more water, and that doesn't get any easier with climate change," John Fleck, the director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, told CNN.

Join us for Part 2 of our series on the 2021 ‘In Gold We Trust Report’. In this episode, Mike Maloney and Ronnie Stoeferle address the issue of inflation - is it temporary, or is it something we must all plan for as an increasing and ongoing part of our lives?

Shares of logistics company UPS fell sharply on Tuesday after the company’s second-quarter earnings report showed that deliveries in the United States were slowing.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to make crypto markets safer.

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

The organization that is always wrong is wrong again.

After June's unexpected rise in consumer confidence, analysts expected The Conference Board's survey data to paint a less optimistic picture in July, but they were wrong as the headline print unexpectedly rose to 129.1 (from 128.9 and against expectations of a drop to 123.9), within a point of pre-COVID confidence levels.

The Communist Party Just Wiped Out a Whole Industry in China; Next Target, Chinese Companies Spilling Secrets in IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 27, 2021 ~ It’s going to be very hard for Americans to get their brains around what is happening in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to wipe out an entire industry – notwithstanding the fact […]

Home prices were 16.6% higher than in May 2020, the highest reading in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report's 30-plus years.

For the most part, the Washington-based institution sees these price pressures as transitory. However, it warned that "uncertainty remains high."

Hymen Minsky theorized that long periods of bullish speculation create excesses generated by reckless, speculative activity eventually leading to a crisis. In this past weekend’s newsletter, I discussed the issue of the markets next “Minsky Moment.” Today, I want to expand on that analysis to discuss how the Fed’s drive to create “stability” eventually creates “instability.”

Gold prices fluctuated at around $1,800 ahead of July’s FOMC meeting as traders awaited clues about the tapering timeline. Real yields fell to a six-month low, lending support to bullion prices ami...

Bitcoin fell below $37,000 after briefly surpassing $40,000 following Amazon.com Inc.’s denial that its job posting for a digital currency executive meant that it will accept the token for payments this year. Earlier Monday, the job posting from the retail giant seeking an executive to develop the company’s “digital currency and blockchain strategy” ...

Shortly after the pandemic struck last year, the Federal Reserve began buying billions of dollars in government debt every month to drive down borrowing costs and keep the economy from collapsing.

After a surprisingly large jump higher in May, analysts expected today's preliminary June Durable Goods Orders to continue to improve (despite PMIs signaling the opposite), but they were wrong as Orders rose just 0.8% MoM (well below the 2.2% MoM rise expected).

The negotiations have entered that most excruciating of phases: tantalizingly close to an agreement, but with none in hand. And patience is wearing thin.

His words follow last week's announcement that the ECB will pursue a "persistently accommodative" stance.

The Federated Hermes chief equity market strategist is blaming the risk dynamic. Not only does Orlando see hotter-than-expected inflation and the Covid-19 delta variant as glaring issues, he’s also worried about uncertainty surrounding monetary and fiscal policy.

Major Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong fell further on Tuesday, adding to major losses seen the previous trading day.

Purchases by buyers from China collapsed by 84% since the peak in 2017.

Searching for clues or even small collateral indications, you can’t leave out the gold market. We’ve been on the lookout for scarcity primarily via the T-bill market, and that’s a good place to start, yet looking back to last March the relationship between bills and bullion was uniquely strong. It’s therefore a persuasive pattern if [...]

When the ECB’s leadership presented their first QE to the assembled media on March 5, 2015, there was a lot of the usual corporate-speak. It sure wasn’t fedspeak, the purposefully obfuscating wordsmithing of the kind made infamous by Alan Greenspan. No, on this occasion, to the contrary, Mario Draghi, the ECB’s President, wanted to be [...]

Bottom falls out at lower end. Fed-enriched high-end buyers doing fine.

Alhambra CEO Joe Calhoun discusses the quick dip and recovery that happened last week and what investors should do when considering what to buy.

If you were waiting for a correction in stock prices to put some money to work, you got your chance last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 1000 points at the low Monday and closed down 725, a loss of a little over 2%. The S&P 500 did a little better but [...]

The miracles of the new economy.

Even before QE, the 10-year yield lagged years behind CPI, up and down. And now, the Fed manipulates the market with QE.

89.3 The Real Reason El Salvador went Crypto———Ep 89.3 Summary———El Salvador announced its crypto intentions seemingly out of the blue. But a closer look reveals the nation had run dangerously short of (euro)dollars in early 2021. It went to the IMF for a bailout. Now it heads to the crypto world for one. Just like [...]

But the US and Russia have similar red-hot inflation rates.

“No way did I realize how difficult it was going to be to try and get people to come to work these days”: CEO of CSX.

Current levels of equity markets are not only divorced from their underlying economic and business realities but are repeating the madness of crowds that led to the Wall Street crash of 1929—1932. The obvious difference is in the money: gold-backed dollars then compared with unbacked fiat today.We can now begin to see how markets and monetary events are likely to develop in the coming months […]

The draft PRA rules complying with Basel 3 regulations have now been issued six months ahead of their implementation to allow banks to adjust for them in time. From now, senior bankers, their lawyers and bank treasury managers will be planning amendments to their business strategies accordingly.As a division of the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority recognises the importance of […]

An interview with the Positive Penger group. Jussi: So welcome all and welcome Michael. Good to have you here again. How are you? Hudson: It’s good to be back. Jussi: Our pleasure as usual. Let me just introduce you shortly first. I think most people know quite a lot about you. I’ll make it short. Continue Reading The post Living with Price Above Value first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The economic consequences of cyclical expansion and contraction of bank credit are the reason for booms and slumps dating back certainly to the Napoleonic Wars and possibly before. Keynesian remedies, which owe their pedigree to the financial theories of John Law, have never succeeded in taming them. This article ties Austrian business cycle theory to the cycle of bank credit. It explains how […]

Understanding of the dollar’s world role is dominated by the ideas of ‘dollar hegemony’ and ‘US hegemony’. In this paper, based on our extensive past work, we reveal how these ideas are ideologies, not theories. In their place, we reveal an understanding one that is theoretically sound and accords with the historical record, a geopolitical Continue Reading The post Moving Beyond Dollar […]

Published by Sage Journals Abstract Marx and many of his less radical contemporary reformers saw the historical role of industrial capitalism as being to clear away the legacy of feudalism—the landlords, bankers, and monopolists extracting economic rent without producing real value. However, that reform movement failed. Today, the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector Continue […]

The role of commercial banks in the global economy is changing, with lending to governments and their agencies now more important than lending to goods and services industries. It is a trend which is due to continue. The new Basel 3 regulations seem set to encourage this trend, despite retail depositors being accorded a stable funding status. Central bank digital currencies are anticipated to […]

“The Fed finds itself between a rock and a hard place: either it keeps inflating or the whole confidence-based valuation of financial assets collapses. Either it raises interest rates or the dollar collapses.”There has been occasional speculation about what happens to asset values in a hyperinflationary collapse. The basis of the question has recently become suddenly relevant, because […]

Yesterday, the FOMC released its June statement which only served to remind us that its members are powerless in the face of inflationary conditions. They refuse to accept the price consequences of monetary inflation, still clinging on to an increasingly untenable hope that price rises are “transitory”.The fact of the matter is that the world is now awash with excess money, the two greatest […]

This article examines the relevance of technical analysis to today’s financial markets. Its genesis springs from two branches, Dow theory and the Elliott wave principal.Originally, Dow theory sprang from an attempt to discern the state of the economy through the construction of representative stock indices for railroads and industrials. Elliott came into existence in the 1930s, but only really […]

A number of events are coming together which are set to push gold prices higher. Besides a combination of continuing inflationary policies and massive future budget deficits undermining the dollar, by closing down derivative market activities new Basel 3 regulations appear set to deflect some demand into physical metals. Furthermore, liquidity in gold markets will contract, potentially making […]

There is an established theoretical relationship between bonds and equities which provides a framework for the future performance of financial assets. It would be a mistake to ignore it, ahead of the forthcoming rise in global interest rates.Price inflation is roaring, and so far, central banks are in denial. But it is increasingly difficult to see how monetary policy planners can extend the […]

Why is the Fed buying corporate junk bonds and debt but won’t buy out student debt? Michael Hudson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay. Paul Jay Hi, I’m Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news. Thank you to everybody who has clicked the donate button. And if you haven’t, maybe you might do it this time. If you’re Continue Reading The post Surprise: Corporate Junk Before Students? first […]

This article looks at the likely consequences of the Bank for International Settlements’ introduction of the net stable funding requirement (NSFR) for bank balance sheets, insofar as they apply to their positions in gold, silver and other commodity markets.If they are introduced as proposed, banks will face significant financing penalties for taking trading positions in derivatives. The problem […]

In this wide-ranging discussion on the Moderate Rebels podcast, Hudson addresses US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, the policies of the Joe Biden administration, Beijing’s economic model, cryptocurrencies, and dedollarization – the potential end to the dollar as the global reserve currency. Transcript Ben Norton 0:03 Hello everyone, I’m Ben Norton. You’re watching Moderate […]

The Radical Imagination episode with guests Michael Hudson & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: April 21, 2021 (transcribed May 3, 2021):  Jim Vrettos:
 So, Michael, Jonathan. Thank you so very, very much for being here. Jonathan, you’re from… We’re looking at you from North Carolina there and Michael is in Queens. You’ve both had tremendous influence in your Continue Reading The post A […]

An interview on The Radical Imagination with Pastor Jonathan Hartgrove and host Jim Vrettos. Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash The post Christian Nationalism’s Re-branding of Jesus first appeared on Michael Hudson.

Transcript Jussi: Welcome Michael. I just give a brief overview of the agenda and then I get back to you with a few questions. I just show you this picture, what we want to do today is this: Today we will get a long-term view on money debt and the economy, including the different power Continue Reading The post The Honest Sector first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The first lecture at the prestigious Southwest University, Chongqing, China: Global U, youtube channel, posted on 21 April 2021, video, Wen Tiejun’s account of Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures Global U weixin channel, an account of Hudson’s Ten Lectures. Global U weixin channel, article, Hudson’s talk in Macau Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures in 70 sections (First Continue Reading The post […]

Nearly half a millennium ago Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince described three options for how a conquering power might treat states that it defeated in war but that “have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom: … the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third Continue Reading The post America’s Neoliberal Financialization Policy vs. […]

An interview with Australia’s Renegade Economists. Karl: Listeners, it’s time to discuss with Professor Michael Hudson, the author of ‘The Bubble and Beyond’, ‘Forgive Them Their Debts’, ‘Super Imperialism’ and so many others. We’re lucky to have Michael with us yet again to continue our series of interviews and, Michael, here we are where, in Continue Reading The post Dream […]

Ibrahima: Good morning or good evening, depending on where you are located and welcome to the Henry George School. My name is Ibrahima Drame and I’m the director of education. It’s a great honor to have you with us today for another joint webinar co-organized with the International Union for Land Value Taxation with two Continue Reading The post What Flavour Oligarchy? first appeared on […]

Michael Hudson and Paul Craig Roberts Cross posted from Paul’s site. Out of habit, American economists worry about federal debt. But federal debt can be redeemed by the Federal Reserve printing the money with which to retire the bonds. The debt problem rests with individuals, companies, and state and local governments. They have no printing Continue Reading The post Removing The Debt Barrier […]

Vrettos 2021 The Radical Imagination episode February 10, 2021 Vrettos: 1.  We’re waiting to see how the rhetoric of the new Biden administration will play out in actual policies. Hudson: Biden’s long political career has been right-wing. He’s the senator from Delaware, the country’s most pro-corporate state – which is why most U.S. corporations are Continue Reading The post The […]

22/01/2021 Oscar Brisset: Welcome to the first event of the Oxford Economics Society for this academic year. I’m Oscar, the Co-President of our society, and I’m glad to welcome you back for another term of exciting discussions. Although we were hoping last term to be back in-person by January, due to the worsening Covid-19 situation Continue Reading The post At the Oxford Economics Society […]

This article is based on Chapter 1 of Cold War 2.0. The Geopolitical Economics of Finance Capitalism vs. Industrial Capitalism (Dresden, ISLET: in press; Chinese translation 2021). © 2020. All rights reserved. Marx and many of his less radical contemporary reformers saw the historical role of industrial capitalism as being to clear away the legacy Continue Reading The post The rentier […]

Ross Welcome to Renegade Inc. However you look at it, 2020 was a train wreck. So as we look forward to 2021, we wanted to get political and economic insight from two friends of the show. Chris Williamson and Michael Hudson share their views on what we can look out for in the new year. Continue Reading The post Multipolarity and Financial Capitalism first appeared on Michael Hudson.

Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar discuss rent and rent-seeking, i.e., unproductive economic activity, in the US and China mainly but including the Russian, Iranian and Brazilian economies. In the first 15 minutes, an overview from Michael Hudson explains what happened in the US economy once jobs and manufacturing were offshored to mainly China.  He proposes Continue Reading The post Rentiers a […]

In this interactive seminar organized jointly by the Henry George School and the International Union for Land Value Taxation, Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar will unpack one of the most destructive features of our economic system and the many different ways it drives wealth inequality. They will also focus on China and the “Great Game” Continue Reading The post A Hard Look at Rent and Rent […]

DEC 4, 2020 Is it time for a debt jubilee? Steve Keen and Michael Hudson have both been arguing for a debt jubilee for some time. Now, as COVID-19 hits the poorest hardest, and leaves those with money better off than before, is this the right time to write off debt? Can the economy recover Continue Reading The post Jubillee Perspectives with Steve Keen first appeared on Michael Hudson.