SAO PAOLO | By Benjamin Cole at Marcus Nunes’ Historinhas | Slated to be No. 2 at the Fed is Stanley Fischer, who espouses adjustable inflation-targeting more than the locally preferred shooting for steady increases in nominal GDP (Market Monetarism), who knows?—it may amount to the same thing in practice.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | As the Fed begins its last meeting of the year, the question is making big headlines and debates in the U.S. this week: Will the central bank start to wind down its $85 billion a month in asset purchases before or after March? The majority of economists were not expecting the Federal Reserve to leave QE before March. But the good data coming from China, the U.S. and Europe might be a game changer. [Video: CMC Markets]
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | This week is tapering week, and we will see the Fed’s first step towards a reduction of the quantitative easing. There is consensus about what the economic data show: every single indicator (except inflation) are more and more vigorous.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Stanley Fischer will almost certainly not achieve his dream of being managing director of the IMF, but his legacy can still be deeper than it would have been had he reached it. Earlier this year, the Zambian-born Israeli-American economist completed a successful eight year mandate in the Bank of Israel, and he is now poised to be the vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve.
LONDON | Barclays analysts | The global recovery remained modest in 2013, inflation was somewhat lower than expected, and monetary policy in the developed countries became even more supportive. While these fundamentals would normally suggest that bonds would outperform stocks, the opposite occurred, and in a very big way: bond prices plunged and equity prices soared.
Via Credit Suisse | Following the global financial crisis, major central banks have taken unprecedented policy actions in a bid to support the global economy and address short-term financial risks. In the following video, thought leaders from the Credit Suisse Research Institute discuss the use of these actions to attack crises, as well as the challenges associated with exiting these unconventional instruments in the coming years. [NOTE: The views expressed in this video are the interviewees’ own and do not necessarily reflect The Corner’s editorial policy].
MADRID | By Francisco López | The U.S. latest unemployment data, as well as the gold price collapse and the movements of the sovereign suggest the beginning of the gradual withdrawal of the assets purchase by the Federal Reserve may be imminent. However, stock markets are not just quite sure the Fed will decide to start tapering at its last meeting of the year, since some macro indicators show the recovery of the first economy of the planet is not strong enough.
LONDON | By Barclays analysts | A new equilibrium has emerged where the Fed has managed to anchor front end rates via rates guidance while preparing markets for tapering. This environment remains risk friendly, but its stability is vulnerable to the speed of the recovery.
SAO PAULO | By Benjamin Cole at Marcus Nunes’ Historinhas | It is an old trick question: What state has not one but two of the 12 regional banks of the United States Federal Reserve System? Is it New York state, the nation’s financial, commercial and manufacturing powerhouse when the Fed was founded in 1913? Answer: Missouri.
LONDON | By Jim McCormick at Barclays | Let’s explore how the start of Fed policy withdrawal will affect asset allocation. From Braclays, we do not see an early start to Fed tapering being especially disruptive for broader risk assets, and we’d expect US equity markets to be more vulnerable than most other risk assets.