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“When all the experts and forecasts agree — something else is going to happen”, Bob Farrell

26 June 2021

At the beginning of the year, “everyone knew” that inflation was about to take off, and that the US$ was going to collapse. Last week, the great Bob Farrell’s Rule No 9 proved its worth, yet again. US interest rates fell sharply and the US$ bottomed for this cycle. The two charts above tell the

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Rising US interest rates, US$ and oil prices set to pressure financial markets

7 March 2021

Everyone who has ever played the Beer Distribution Game on a training course knows what is happening in supply chains today. A small increase in underlying demand is rapidly leading to a massive increase in ‘apparent demand’. As the New York Times reports, “the pandemic has disrupted every stage of the (supply chain) journey.”  And

The post Rising US interest rates, US$ and oil prices set to pressure financial markets appeared first on Chemicals and the Economy.

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Chart of the Year – CAPE Index signals negative S&P 500 returns to 2030

20 December 2020

Each year, it seems there is only one candidate for Chart of the Year. And 2020 is no exception. It has to be the CAPE Index developed by Nobel Prize winner, Prof Robert Shiller.  As the chart shows, it is nearly at an all-time high with Tesla’s addition to the S&P 500. Only the peak

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Welcome to the New Normal – a look ahead to 2030

14 December 2020

10 years ago, I took a look ahead at what we could expect in the next decade, as discussed last week. Unfortunately, we now face the major economic and social crises that the chart predicted, if policymakers continued with ‘business as usual’. This week, I want to look ahead at what we can expect to

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Hertz goes bankrupt as non-essential consumer demand disappears

24 May 2020

The US Federal Reserve has now spent $7tn bailing out Wall Street. But it couldn’t save the 102-year old Hertz rental company from filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its US business on Friday night. Sadly, Hertz won’t be the only casualty. Its collapse instead marks the moment when the problems created by two

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Will stock markets see a Minsky Moment in 2020?

5 January 2020

Few investors now remember the days when price discovery was thought to be the key role of stock markets. Instead, we know that prices are really now set by central banks, on the model of the Politburo in the old Soviet Union. How else can one explain the above chart? It shows the US S&P

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Chart of the Decade – the Fed’s support for the S&P 500 will end with a debt crisis

22 December 2019

Each year, there has been only one possible candidate for Chart of the Year.  Last year it was the collapse of China’s shadow banking bubble; 2017 was Bitcoin’s stratospheric rise; 2016 the near-doubling in US 10-year interest rates; and 2015 the oil price fall. This year, the ‘Chart of the Decade’ is in a league

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Global economy hits stall speed, whilst US S&P 500 sets new records

1 December 2019

Whisper it not to your friends in financial markets, but the global economy is moving into recession. The US stock markets keep making new highs, thanks to the support from the major western central banks. But in the real world, where the rest of us live, the best leading indicator for the global economy is

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$50bn hole appears in New York financial markets – Fed is “looking into it”

29 September 2019

Most people would quickly notice if $50 went missing from their purse or wallet. They would certainly notice if $50k suddenly disappeared from their bank account. But a fortnight ago, it took the New York Federal Reserve more than a day to notice that $50bn was missing from the money markets it was supposed to

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Uber’s $91bn IPO marks the top for today’s debt-fuelled stock markets

28 April 2019

Uber’s IPO next month is set to effectively “ring the bell” at the top of the post-2008 equity bull market on Wall Street.  True, it is now expecting to be valued at a “bargain” $91bn, rather than the $120bn originally forecast. But as the Financial Times has noted: “Founded in 2009, it has never made

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Fed’s magic money tree hopes to overcome smartphone sales downturn and global recession risk

3 February 2019

Last November, I wrote one of my “most-read posts”, titled Global smartphone recession confirms consumer downturn. The only strange thing was that most people read it several weeks later on 3 January, after Apple announced its China sales had fallen due to the economic downturn. Why did Apple and financial markets only then discover that smartphone sales

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Stock markets risk Wile E. Coyote fall despite Powell’s rush to support the S&P 500

6 January 2019

How can companies and investors avoid losing money as the global economy goes into a China-led recession?  That’s the key question as we enter 2019.  We have reached a fork in the road: Since 2008, Western central bankers have focused on supporting stock markets But the bursting of China’s shadow banking bubble means this cannot continue for

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The global economy and the US$ – an alternative view

29 January 2018

Every New Year starts with optimism about the global economy.  But as Stanley Fischer, then vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, noted back in August 2014:  “Year after year we have had to explain from mid-year on why the global growth rate has been lower than predicted as little as two quarters back.” Will […]

The post The global economy and the US$ – an alternative view appeared first on Chemicals & The Economy.

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Interest rates and London house prices begin return to reality

4 October 2017

Global interest rates have fallen dramatically over the past 25 years, as the chart shows for government 10-year bonds:   UK rates peaked at 9% in 1995 and are now down at 1%: US rates peaked at 8% and are now at 2%   German rates peaked at 8% and are now down to 0%: […]

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Baby boomers’ spending decline has hit demand and inflation

21 September 2017

The Financial Times has kindly printed my letter below, wondering why the US Federal Reserve still fails to appreciate the impact of the ageing BabyBoomers on the economy Sir, It was surprising to read that the US Federal Reserve is still puzzled by today’s persistently low levels of inflation, given that the impact of the ageing […]

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US GDP growth stalls with participation rates near all-time low

10 April 2017

US GDP growth is slowing, again, as the chart of the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s “GDP Now” forecast shows:    Forecast Q1 growth has slipped to just 0.6% from an initial 3.4% at the end of January    Consensus economic forecasts are still much higher, but even they have fallen to 1.7% from 2.2% […]

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Monetary policy reaches sell-by date for managing the economy

27 February 2017

Monetary policy used to be the main focus for running the economy.  If demand and inflation rose too quickly, then interest rates would be raised to cool things down.  When demand and inflation slowed, interest rates would be reduced to encourage “pent-up demand” to return. After the start of the Financial Crisis, central banks promised […]

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Fed’s economic models applied to a past era

29 October 2016

The Financial Times has kindly printed my letter below, welcoming the Fed’s decision to address the impact of demographics, but arguing that it needs to focus on demand issues, given the impact of today’s ageing populations. Sir, It is good to see the US Federal Reserve is finally beginning to address the impact of demographics […]

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San Francisco Fed agrees ageing Boomers impact economy

14 October 2016

Finally, one of the major Western central banks has agreed that the ageing of the BabyBoomers does indeed have an impact on the economy.  John Fernald of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, wrote in a new paper this week: “Estimates suggest the new normal for U.S. GDP growth has dropped to between 1½ and […]

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Central bankers create debt, not growth, by ignoring demographic reality

26 September 2016

The world’s 4 main central bankers love being in the media spotlight.  After decades climbing the academic ladder, or earning millions with investment banks, they have the opportunity to rule the world’s economy – or so they think. But their background is rather strange preparation to take on this role – even if it was […]

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US 10-Year interest rates suggest Great Reckoning may be near

19 September 2016

 ”History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes“, Mark Twain Bob Farrell of Merrill Lynch was rightly considered one of the leading Wall Street analysts in his day.  His 10 Rules are still an excellent guide for any investor.  Equally helpful is the simple checklist he developed, echoing Mark Twain’s insight, to help investors avoid […]

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You’ve seen the Great Unwinding; get ready for the Great Reckoning

31 August 2016

Companies and investors now need to prepare for the Great Reckoning, as I describe in my latest post for the Financial Times, published on the BeyondBrics blog We have reached the second anniversary of the Great Unwinding of policymaker stimulus. Almost inevitably, this now seems likely to be followed by a Great Reckoning, a consequence […]

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Risks rise for global economy as chemical capacity surplus grows

29 August 2016

“The Federal Reserve Needs New Thinking.  Its models are unreliable, its policies erratic and its guidance confusing. It is also politically vulnerable.”  Former Fed Governor, Kevin Warsh. “The Great Unraveling.  Years of Fed Missteps Fueled Disillusion With the Economy and Washington.”  Main headline, Wall Street Journal. There comes a point, as in 2008, when the […]

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US pensioners pay the price for Fed’s monetary policy failure

19 August 2016

There was one bit of good news this week.  For the first time since the financial crisis began, a Governor of the US Federal Reserve acknowledged that today’s demographic changes are having a major impact on the US economy. John Williams, of the San Francisco Fed, argued that: “Shifting demographics….(mean that) interest rates are going […]

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Bank of England’s new stimulus policy creates bankruptcy risk for corporate pension funds

12 August 2016

The Western BabyBoomers (born between 1946-70), have been one of the luckiest generations in history.  By and large, they have escaped the major wars that have plagued society down the ages.  They have also lived in a world where living standards and material wealth have made astonishing gains.  Equally priceless has been the rise in […]

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Boom/Gloom Index suggests volatile August may lie ahead

3 August 2016

It may be an idea to keep your smartphone charged and within reach, if you are planning a trip to the beach this month.  Certainly market behaviour since June has been more and more skittish.  The experts, after all, were telling us that central banks were certain to do more major stimulus efforts to boost […]

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13m missing American workers highlight economic slowdown

8 June 2016

There’s something very wrong with the US jobs market, as the slide above confirms.  Commentators professed to be surprised by the disappointing May report last Friday, but its hard to know why: The overall participation rate has been in decline since July 1997, when it reached 68%: today it is only 62.7% Male participation is at […]

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Surplus chemical industry capacity reaches 26% as demand slows

30 May 2016

Global demand is continuing to slow, yet chemical industry capacity is continuing to ramp up.  As a result, supply gluts are likely to appear in many key areas as we move into the second half of the year.  That is the key conclusion from the latest American Chemistry Council data for global chemical capacity and […]

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Restocking boosts Q1 margins for chemical companies

18 May 2016

Thank goodness for Janet Yellen, and China’s provincial governments.  That was clearly investors’ thoughts, when they bid up chemical company share prices during Q1.  For as the chart above shows, there was nothing in the fundamentals of supply and demand to suggest economic recovery was finally underway.  Instead, the latest American Chemistry Council data shows […]

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Oil market speculators profit as central banks hand out free cash

21 March 2016

Oil markets are entering a very dangerous phase.  Already, many US energy companies have gone bankrupt, having believed that $100/bbl prices would justify their drilling costs.  Now the pain is moving downstream. The problem is the central banks.  Hedge funds have piled into the oil futures markets since January, betting that there would be lots […]

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“Debt-financed growth model has reached its limits”, admits German finance minister

29 February 2016

Central bank policy-making is becoming more and more dysfunctional, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble‘s comments highlighted on Friday: “The debt financed growth model has reached its limits.  It is even causing new problems, raising debt, causing bubbles and excessive risk taking, zombifying the economy….and may have laid the foundation for the next crisis.” One clear sign […]

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If only the central banks could print babies

25 June 2022

The Financial Times has kindly printed my letter below, arguing that central bank stimulus can’t restore growth to previous Super Cycle levels. Sir, John Plender’s excellent analysis “Central banks’ waning credibility is the real threat to confidence” (Insight, February 17) highlights the need for a new narrative to explain the economic slowdown of recent years. […]

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Great Unwinding sees oil fall 65%; US$ rise 22%; US 10-year rates rise 25%

4 January 2016

The Great Unwinding of policymaker stimulus was the major issue in financial markets in 2015.  And it is set to have even greater impact in 2016 once Phase 3 begins.  The chart above highlights the astonishing changes that have taken place since the Unwinding began in mid-August 2014; Phase 1 has so far seen Brent […]

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US 10-year interest rates jump 23% as Fed debates 0.25% hike

30 November 2015

Media hype over the potential for a 0.25% interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve is well underway.  But as often happens these days, this is missing the bigger picture. The issue is simple: developments in China are far more important to the global economy than anything the Fed might, or might not, do […]

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Coppock, Farrell indicators suggest financial market downturn underway

2 November 2015

They don’t ring bells to warn of financial market tops and bottoms.  But there are 2 very good substitutes in terms of the Farrell and Coppock Indicators, as the above chart for the UK stock market since 1973 shows: It is based on the Financial Times All-share Index (FTA), as the FTSE 100 only began […]

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Financial markets head towards chaos as Great Unwinding continues

21 September 2015

Financial markets are slowly descending into chaos.  The process began in China over the summer, and has now started to impact Wall Street and other developed markets as the Great Unwinding of policymaker stimulus continues. The problem is that successful investment, whether in financial or chemical markets, requires the combination of A clear understanding of […]

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Markets need more cash from the Janet Yellen tooth fairy

7 September 2015

Central banks have acted as the proverbial tooth fairy towards financial markets in recent years.  But they have not just left a small amount of money under the pillow when a child lost its first tooth.  Instead they have printed trillions of dollars via Quantitative Easing (QE), to persuade investors to buy shares and commodities, […]

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Q2 results highlight continued uncertainty over outlook

31 July 2015

The chemical industry continues to be the best leading indicator we have for the global economy. Whilst stock markets were continuing to move higher during H1, its depressed level of capacity utilisation was signalling that the economy was far more fragile than generally realised. Company results for Q2 reflect this concern. Of course some, tied […]

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Yellen offers hostage to fortune on US growth

21 July 2015

Previous chairs of the US Federal Reserve had a poor record when it came to forecasting key events: Alan Greenspan, at the peak of the subprime housing bubble in 2005, published a detailed analysis that emphasised how house prices had never declined on a national basis Ben Bernanke, at the start of the financial crisis […]

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Fears of Austerity rise again, as Stimulus proves ineffective

1 July 2015

Austerity is in the news again, as the Greek/Eurozone debt negotiations continue.  So it seems interesting to see how financial market sentiment has been moving with regard to the issues of austerity and stimulus.  The above chart is therefore modeled on the familiar IeC Boom/Gloom Index It shows the ratio of sentiment for Austerity versus […]

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Fed’s loss of credibility risks causing investor stampede

22 June 2015

Credibility is hard to gain.  And once gone, it is very hard to regain.  That is the challenge facing the US Federal Reserve today.  The New York Times is just one of the mainstream media now starting to highlight the issue, as last week’s Feb meeting led to a further deferral of the promised rise […]

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US margin debt hits record highs, whilst interest rates jump

8 June 2015

Everyone knows that the US Federal Reserve will “never” let stock markets fall.  So it makes perfect sense for investors to borrow as much as they can, in order to chase the market higher.  It therefore is no surprise to see that borrowing to fund purchases on the New York Stock Exchange has reached a […]

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Policymakers’ out-of-date economic models fail to create growth, again

7 January 2017

Since 2010, May/June has seen the US Federal Reserve start to realise it would have to revise its optimistic New Year forecast that economic recovery was inevitable. As its deputy chairman, Stanley Fischer, noted last August “Year after year we have had to explain from mid-year on why the global growth rate has been lower than […]

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US jobs growth fails to keep pace with population growth

13 May 2015

The US population reached 320m this year, an 11.35m increase versus 2010, according to the US Census Bureau: “The U.S. is expected to experience a birth every 8 seconds and one death every 12 seconds, whilst net international migration is expected to add one person to the U.S. population every 33 seconds.  All these factors […]

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“Sell in May and go away?” as US/German bond yields jump

4 May 2015

A strange thing happened to German 10-year interest rates last week – they rose quite sharply, by a further 0.2%. That may not sound a lot, but it is when the starting point is so low.  On 20 April, they were at 0.07%, and on Friday they closed at 0.37% – for a total rise […]

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US GDP disappoints again as aging Boomers slow the economy

30 April 2015

“Year after year we have had to explain from mid-year on why the global growth rate has been lower than predicted as little as two quarters back.” That was the comment, last August, from the new deputy chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Stanley Fischer.  This year, he won’t have to wait until mid-year to start the […]

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Market volatility jumps as Great Unwinding continues

13 April 2015

As I have feared, major volatility is developing in financial and chemical markets, as the Great Unwinding of policymaker stimulus continues.  The chart above shows the dramatic increase in the benchmark portfolio since the Unwinding began in mid-August: There was very little volatility from January until August, with prices generally remaining within +/- 10% Volatility then […]

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Volatility rises as central bank policies prove wishful thinking

6 April 2015

Q1 was very difficult for many companies and investors.  They had wanted to believe since 2009 that central banks could somehow control the global economy: The oil price would always be $100/bbl The US $ would always remain weak Central banks would always be able to stimulate growth in the economy Stock markets would always go up in the […]

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Atlanta Fed Q1 GDP indicator at 0.2%, as US housing, auto sales remain below previous trends

1 April 2015

US housing starts are slowing so far this year, with February’s starts just below the million level again on an annualised basis.  This follows the steadily declining rate of home ownership, which is now back at 1995′s level of 64%.  And yesterday’s Case-Shiller report on home prices suggests the 10-City Index may well have peaked back in […]

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European interest rates go negative as Draghi boosts stock markets

17 March 2015

Historians will not look kindly on Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank. They will ask what he thought he was doing, issuing an extra €1tn ($1.05tn) of debt from March 2015, when the Eurozone was already struggling under a dead-weight of government debt: In the big countries, Italy has $47k of debt per person; […]

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US stock markets weaken as bond yields signal deflation is near

5 February 2015

Increasing volatility in major Western financial markets suggests they are struggling to maintain their momentum. It is certainly hard to be very optimistic about the outlook for the major Western stock markets this year.  The reason is that investors are still failing to think about political risk.  They continue to believe, as they did a year ago, […]

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US shale gas bubble will end in tears for ethylene expansions

29 December 2014

A return to lower oil prices is good news for the global economy.  But it is bad news for all those who have invested in expanding ethylene production on the assumption that US gas prices would maintain the temporary advantage of recent years.  As the chart shows: Oil (blue line) has around 6x the energy […]

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Equity markets under pressure as Boom/Gloom Index signals Great Unwinding

2 October 2014

Whisper it quietly if you are walking past the imposing Federal Reserve building in Washington DC, so as not to disturb the occupants.  They believe that their efforts to boost financial markets have had their effect, and that the real economy, in which we all live and work, will now recover. But what if the […]

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US Fed governor agrees it helped fund Alibaba bubble

26 September 2014

The last days of a bubble are always the most fun.  And Alibaba’s New York market debut last Friday will be one of those to treasure and report to the grandchildren in decades to come.  There were so many elements to enjoy: The investment bankers got the price wrong by 40%, but will still walk away with […]

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Shiller warning suggests S&P 500 bubble coming to an end

17 September 2014

Nobel Prizewinner Prof Robert Shiller correctly forecast the dot-com collapse in 2000, and the 2008 financial Crisis, using the chart above.  Now he is warning we risk a 3rd collapse. The problem is that Western central banks have undertaken the largest financial experiment in history.  Their policy has been to boost financial markets, particularly the US S&P 500 – the world’s […]

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US jobless dominated by Blacks, Hispanics and those without high school diplomas

9 September 2014

Financial markets today only care about one thing – whether central banks will continue to provide more low-cost financing to support higher asset prices.  Thus markets liked last Friday’s weak US jobs report.  They hoped that the US Federal Reserve would slow its tapering process as a result. This inverted logic explains why bad news for the […]

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Boom/Gloom Index tumbles as S&P 500 hits record

5 September 2014

The stock market used to be a good leading indicator for the economy.  But that was before the central banks decided to manipulate it for their own purposes.  As then US Federal Reserve Chairman boasted 3 years ago on launching their second round of money-printing: “Policies have contributed to a stronger stock market just as […]

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US dollar rises as investors worry low-cost money may disappear

3 September 2014

Nobody knows how the Great Unwinding of central bank stimulus policies will develop.  The world has simply never been in this position before.  Thus the senior economics and business correspondent of the Financial Times, John Plender, began an article this week: “In a market where asset prices are comprehensively rigged by central bankers, rational investment […]

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Markets slip as fears grow Fed’s cheap money may end soon

8 August 2014

Western financial markets are getting nervous that the US Federal Reserve will cut off their supply of cheap money.  They went through the same panic in 2011.  Now they again have to wait to see what happens. The chart of the new IeC Boom/Gloom Index above highlights the parallels: Markets were strong through April 2011, with the […]

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Bond investors embrace the 3 Normals

1 July 2014

Sometimes the blog gets lucky with its timing.  That was certainly the case when it spoke to the world’s leading bond investors last week.  Just an hour before, they had been shocked by news that US GDP had fallen by 2.9% in Q1, far worse than earlier estimates.  And nobody believed the official excuse that […]

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Financial market melt-up takes S&P 500 to new record

6 June 2014

A year ago, the blog suggested that financial markets were reaching their most dangerous ‘melt-up’ stage, driven by investor complacency about the ability of central banks to protect them from any downturn.  This analysis was confirmed in November, when absurdly high prices were paid for works of modern art, smashing previous records. Gillian Tett of the Financial Times (another of […]

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Central banks have created a debt-fuelled ‘ring of fire’

7 August 2019

A new article by an IMF economist makes the point that in April 2008, not a single one of the mainstream economic forecasts covered by ‘Consensus Economics’ was forecasting a recession in 2009. The IMF itself expected growth to continue, as did the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.  Even by […]

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“None so blind, as those that will not see?”

2 June 2014

Every now and then, the blog scratches its head and wonders, “what would it take to convince US policymakers that demographics have an influence on demand?” Suppose, for example, they loudly and consistently announced that the US was now in full recovery mode, and would be certain to achieve economic growth of 3% or more?  And that then, growth […]

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Another ‘Minsky Moment’ beckons for US stock markets

28 May 2014

The West has been living with cheap money from the central banks for over 5 years.  Credit has been very easy to obtain in the financial sector, and interest rates have been at all-time lows.  The result can be seen in the chart above from Business Insider of total lending to fund stock purchases on the New […]

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Chemical and oil prices still lower than 3 years ago

12 May 2014

Its now 3 years since the blog suggested on 2 May 2011: “They don’t ring bells at market turning points.  Otherwise, we could all retire to the Bahamas.   But there is growing anecdotal evidence, from chemical buyers and the main retailers, that we may have reached at least a temporary market peak.  And Brent crude oil […]

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Central banks have “attempted to manipulate asset prices and financial makets”

10 March 2014

“The proper role for monetary policy is to work behind the scenes to promote long-term growth and price stability, yet central banks have instead attempted to “manipulate asset prices and financial markets” to fine-tune their economies. “I do not think this is a particularly healthy state of affairs for the central banks or our economies. […]

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Sentiment weakens as US stock markets wait for more QE

3 March 2014

Sentiment, as measured by the IeC Boom/Gloom Index has weakened considerably over the past 3 months as the chart shows: It peaked at 12 in November, hitting its highest level since before the 2008 Crisis began (blue column) It then drifted lower in December, before rallying back to 9 in the New Year But now […]

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“Reservations are no longer necessary at many high-end restaurants”

24 February 2014

Think back a moment to September 16 2008.  Newly released transcripts analysed by the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reveal for the first time what was really going on that day at the world’s most important central bank. Lehman Bros, one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks, had just gone bust.  Merrill Lynch, another giant, had […]

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“The dog ate my homework”: excuses for economic slowdown

17 February 2014

There were never any excuses from policymakers during the BabyBoomer-led SuperCycle from 1983 – 2007.  The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, came to be styled ‘The Maestro’.  Whilst the Governor of the Bank of England argued that his efforts had created the NICE decade of Non-Inflationary Constant Expansion. Central bankers came to be seen as wise […]

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US incomes decline as job participation rate drops

11 February 2014

There are two ways to approach last Friday’s monthly release of the US jobs figures: One is the Wall Street way, which is to bet on whether the numbers will be bad enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to boost its money printing operations The other is to look for clues as to what is […]

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“Bad news barrage sinks New Year consensus”

10 February 2014

Markets stopped operating in their true role of providing price discovery sometime ago.  Instead, they became dominated by the central banks, determined to prove their theory that increased asset values can stimulate sustained economic recovery. They, of course, have the firepower to bend markets to their will.  Nobody else could have spent $16tn in this manner […]

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You can’t print babies to create new demand

21 January 2014

What would you have done 5 years ago, in 2009, if you had been given $16tn to restore global economic growth? Would you have boosted spending in areas such as education, health and infrastructure in the belief this would create a sustained boost to economic capability?  Would you have cut taxes in order to encourage entrepreneurs to develop new businesses and promote […]

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“2 Steps and Then a Stumble”, as the Fed starts to taper

23 December 2013

The most important event of the past week, and possibly of the whole year, was Wednesday’s decision by the US Federal Reserve to finally “taper” its vast stimulus effort – now worth $4tn, nearly 25% of US GDP. The timing was no great surprise.  The blog was convinced Ben Bernanke would want to start the process […]

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The trend is your friend, until it isn’t

21 December 2013

Investing in today’s financial markets is relatively easy.  You simply have to believe that governments in the US, Japan and Europe will continue to provide plenty of free cash to investors as part of their Recovery Scenario of a quick return to ‘normal growth’.  It doesn’t matter whether the investor believes in the Scenario, the driver is simply the fear of […]

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Iran talks offer hope on oil prices

26 November 2013

Iran has been at the centre of all the major oil market price spikes in the past few decades: Today’s record prices on an annual basis are partly due to market fears over supply disruptions due to the Iran/Israel nuclear issue Fears over a nuclear showdown also led prices to jump to $150/bbl in July 2008, when the […]

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“I’m Sorry, America” says Fed’s official responsible for QE operations

14 November 2013

Over the years, the blog has been very critical of the quality of people appointed by the US Federal Reserve to undertake the actual trading involved in its ‘Quantitative Easing’ (QE) programmes: In October 2008, it felt “distinctly underwhelmed” by news that the person supervising decisions on which financial institutions should live or die during the peak of the Crisis […]

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US Federal Reserve cuts growth forecast, again

23 September 2013

5 years after the Crisis began, there still seems to be a worrying lack of accountability in the banking sector, even when things go wrong on an epic scale.  Take JP Morgan Chase, for example: It lost $6.2bn in London last year, which its CEO Jamie Dimon initially called “a tempest in a teapot” It has now been […]

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US stock markets hit record but real economy remains slow

10 August 2013

“Don’t fight the Fed” is one of the oldest rules in stock market investment.  And it has proved valid again, as this month’s IeC Boom/Gloom Index shows:…

The Fed and other G7 central banks have poured $10tn of stimulus into

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Central banks pop champagne corks as stock markets soar

6 May 2013

Central bankers mean well. But, of course, good intentions do not guarantee good results.

Their intention since the start of the 2008 crisis has been to boost financial markets. They have therefore provided $tns of liquidity, which has indeed produc…

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US Fed’s doubling of QE3 fails to impress markets

17 December 2012

Over the past 4 years, 18 men (no women are involved) have run the global response to the financial crisis, as politicians refused to take a lead.

Instead, the world’s leading central bankers felt forced to establish their own Economic Consultative…

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Germany’s Bundesbank warns on the growth outlook

10 December 2012

Last week the blog looked back at the performance of its 3 benchmark products since the start of 2009. This week it looks at what has happened to its 3 financial market products:

• Before 2009, there was normally an inverse correlation between oi…

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US Federal Reserve policies confront a closing door

3 November 2012

The blog’s friends at the American Chemistry Council used a very relevant quotation recently from Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone and numerous other modern wonders:

“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we seek t…

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US companies’ revenue starts to fall, as higher oil prices bite

22 October 2012

Whisper it quietly, so as not to disturb the world’s central bankers as they rest. But the impact of their latest round of quantitative easing programmes (yellow highlight, QE3) may already be slowing. As the chart shows, these had an immediate impac…

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Boom/Gloom Index slows as sentiment weakens

4 October 2012

Here we go again’ seems to be the reaction of financial markets to the US Federal Reserve’s latest push to expand liquidity. So far, policymakers have tried 4 times to return the economy to the world of the Supercycle between 1982-2007. As the chart …

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‘Waiting for Bernanke’ is hottest show on Wall Street

23 July 2012

‘Waiting for Godot’, the great play by Irish writer and Nobel Literature Prizewinner, Samuel Beckett, deals with the meaning of existence. Written just after the Second World War, its two characters wait endlessly for the arrival of Godot.

US financi…

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Financial markets at top of their trading range, again

4 July 2012

Financial markets cannot make up their minds about the outlook. As this month’s IeC Boom/Gloom Index shows, sentiment (blue column) remains exactly at the dividing line between optimism and pessimism.

This parallels the behaviour of the S&P 500 Index…

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US companies have less cash to spend

12 June 2012

The US Federal Reserve has provided a wonderful new example of the problems with spreadsheets.

It also shows how a naive belief in the credibility of any computer-generated output has come to over-ride common sense. In turn, policy can become based o…

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A is for Ambiguity

26 May 2012

Today the blog ends its review of the VUCA world with A for Ambiguity.

The global economy often seemed to be on auto-pilot during the 25 years of the economic Supercycle between 1982-2007. The chart above shows US GDP since 1929 (when records began),…

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Demand declines as Federal Reserve fuels oil price rise

27 February 2012

The Wall Street Journal carried an interesting opinion piece on Friday, assessing current market conditions from the viewpoint of the film character, Forrest Gump. Gump’s key insight is that “Stupid is as stupid does”. Thus the Journal noted:

“Oil …

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Déjà vu all over again in petchem markets

20 February 2012

This time last year, the petchem industry stood on the edge of an unseen precipice. Life seemed good. Prices were racing ahead and demand appeared buoyant. But in reality the buyers were only buying forward to protect margins, whilst end-user demand…

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US Fed policy may be going Back to the Future

18 August 2011

Today’s 419 point fall on the Dow Jones Average, and $6/bbl fall in WTI crude oil prices, may not be just another example of the wild volatility that has come to seem normal in financial markets.

It may also mark the end of an era.

Since 1994, the …