MADRID | The Corner |“Yabadabadu!,” US economist Justin Wolfers exclaimed on his Twitter account. The strong jobs report (unemployment rate declined to near a six-year low of 6.1% and non-farm payrolls rose by 288,000 last month)was released on Thursday gave a shot of optimism over the strength of the job market’s recovery. The Dow broke 17,000 for the first time. Will all this have any influence on the Fed’s tapering plans?
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Monetary policy has “major limitations” and regulation should play the lead role in combating excessive financial risk-taking,” said Fed’s chairwoman Janet Yellen on Wednesday at an event sponsored by the IMF.
MADRID | Bankinter Analysis | 3Q Perspectives. Economic cycle speeds up and, mostly, gains soundness and reliability. Global growth will consolidate in 2014/2015 by +3%/+4% with positive news for developed countries and less favorable surprises in emerging markets. Japan and India are the exception to this rule. Spain will also amaze and main economic risk will lie in regional regional integrity issues whose aftermath may be undervalued, regardless the final scenario.
MADRID | JP Marín Arrese | The revised growth figure for the US economy in Q1 comes as a nasty surprise. It has dampened market sentiment worldwide. Earlier assessments blaming bad weather the moderate setback no longer hold when faced with a downturn close to 3%. Even discarding a fallback into full-fledged recession, it undoubtedly points to a markedly weaker performance than expected. The Fed tapering strategy is confronted with a baffling dilemma.
NEW YORK | By Benjamin Cole at Historinhas | The recent historical and empirical record strongly suggests central bank quantitative easing (QE) works. The riddle is whether both the Japan and U.S. economies will slip into stagnation again without QE, as long as there is a global glut of capital holding down interest rates, and inflation is dead—or even if inflation is near 2 percent on the PCE deflator, the putative Fed target. The riddle might even be reframed: When central banks do not conduct QE, are they actively engaged in monetary asphyxiation?
MADRID | By The Corner | The Federal Reserve cut its asset purchase plan by $10,000 million more, as expected. Experts at Bankinter Broker point that from now on the FED will buy $20,000 million in treasury bonds and $15,000 million in MBS every month.
MADRID | By The Corner | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised downwards its growth forecasts for the US from 2.8% in April 2014 to 2%, and maintained 2015 outlook in 3%. Furthermore, the institution believes that the country will not achieve full employment before 2017.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The ball is now on Janet Yellen’s court after BoE’s governor Mark Carney warned investors to get ready for interest rates’ hikes. What can we expect if the US Fed follows suit?
SAO PAULO | By Benjamin Cole via Historinhas | Sadly for Americans, the Fed of 2008 would pull out the 50-year-old playbook and repeat the mistakes of the Fed of the 1950s. Rattled by minor increases in prices, the 2008 Fed stomped on the brakes, bringing on the Great Recession from which the nation has yet to fully recover.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Chinese real estate sector saw its outlook downgraded by Moody’s while Spanish housing sector keeps on moving forward, appealing institutional investors. Blackstone, PSP, Drago Capital, Colonial represent the increasing appetite for properties in Madrid and Barcelona. And don’t miss Fed’s Charles Plosser words: he believes the US central bank is “sitting on a ticking bomb.”