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Fed Monetary Policy Review – No FAIT But What We Make

David Page, Head of Macro Research at AXA Investment Managers | Federal Reserve Chair Powell delivered the first shared address to a (virtual) Jackson Hole Monetary Conference. He delivered the conclusions of the Fed’s Monetary Policy Review, a process that was started in early 2019, and was due to be announced earlier this year, before the pandemic delayed the release. The Review maintained the broad pillars of Fed policy making: a dual mandate with employment and price stability goals, with price stability defined as 2% over the long term. However, it made three changes…


FEDBALANCE

The Real Challenge Facing The Fed

Mobeen Tahir, Associate Director, Research, WisdomTree | The biggest challenge facing the Fed in the coming months (and years) is to sketch a roadmap for closing the floodgates of liquidity. At this point in time, it might seem like a ‘nice problem to have’. But given long and variable lags between policy implementation and impact on economy, these are issues the Fed needs to be thinking about now. While the Fed’s mandate is to promote maximum employment and ensure price stability, markets have become highly dependent on central bank accommodation as a propellant. As unemployment (currently 10.2% in the US) decreases and inflation (US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index inflation is currently 0.9%) rises closer to the Fed’s desired target level of 2%, the central bank will need to tighten policy.


V L W recovery

The Fed And The OECD Have Doubts About The V-Shaped Recovery Discounted By The Markets

Santander Corporate & Investment | The Fed does not expect the economy to fully recover until 2022 and expects GDP to fall by 6.5% and unemployment of 9.3% in 2020. The OECD also distances itself from V-shaped scenarios and warns of the worst peacetime recession in 100 years. In scenarios without second waves of Covid-19, the OECD anticipates a global contraction of 11.5% in H1’20 and neither does it expect world GDP to approach the pre-coronavirus level by end-2021.


Jerome Powell

The Fed would prefer not to discuss going negative

David Lafferty (Natixis) | Central banks have pinned the front end to zero – or lower – but real rates and inflation premiums have some room to rise into the recovery phase – as slow as it may be. Yields will also see some upward pressure when the Fed and other central banks eventually begin to slow QE purchases. At this point, the Fed would prefer not to discuss going negative as the overnight market recently priced. Another sell-off or prolonged shutdown might put negative rates on the table, but we’re not there yet.

 


Jay Powell

US Corporate Bonds: New York FED To Start Purchases “In Early May”

Markus Allenspach, Head Fixed Income Research, Julius Baer | At this stage, the corporate bond market needs support from the Federal Reserve to digest the negative news flow, such as the net tightening of lending standards for commercial and industrial loans in the senior loan officers’ survey published yesterday or the numerous cyclical data showing the depth of the contraction in the current quarter.


Jay Powell

The Federal Reserve Ventures Into Unchartered Territory

J.P.Marín Arrese | Jerome Powell raises the stakes day by day by making bolder than ever decisions. He shatters the image of shyness, prudence and circumspection he offered when taking over the Fed chairmanship. His last daring move has left markets flabbergasted. No wonder. He has pledged 2.3 trillion to buy ungraded bonds and to set up a massive lending facility for Main Street companies, thus breaking the golden rule of including only high-rated paper in the Fed balance sheet. 


The Fed balance sheet and repo facility cannot explain the stock market’s movement in isolation

Repo Facility: QE Or Not? It Does Not Matter

Unigestión | Whether it is called QE or not, buying bills (swapping reserves for short-term bonds), injecting liquidity into the market place and growing the balance sheet affects risky assets. Market conditioning (the Pavlovian effect) since the GFC is that stock markets cannot go down when the Fed is growing the balance sheet. Additionally, the Fed’s extremely aggressive response to the repo blowout in September is another signal to markets that it has a very low tolerance for market fluctuations.


Which central bank blinks and cut rates first?

Which Central Bank Blinks And Cuts Rates First?

TwentyFour Asset Management’s CEO Mark Holman thinks central banks will move on rates any time soon, but where the first move comes from might be harder to call. They are sure it will not be the UK, thank goodness and also sure it won’t be the ECB. It won’t be the US in the near future either.


Quantitative easing now looks permanent – and has turned central banks into pseudo governments

Quantitative Easing Now Looks Permanent–And Has Turned Central Banks Into Pseudo Governments

via The Conversation | After a pause of a few months, the world’s leading central banks are “printing” money again to try to bolster their economies. Commonly known as quantitative easing or QE, the European Central Bank (ECB) resumed its programme just before the turn of the year. The backdrop is lukewarm growth, a looming recession in Germany, and persistent fears of Japanese-style deflation.


Is it the Fed that has changed... or the world around it?

Is It The Fed That Has Changed… Or The World Around It?

CaixaBank Research | The Fed has cut interest rates in 2019 for the first time in 11 years. However, it has barely lowered its growth outlook for the US and has justified the cut with the weakness of inflation and the persistence of risks. Is it possible that the Fed has changed its reaction function? The results of the analysis in this article suggest so.