The Confident Consumer
US consumer confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month in October, and has now reached an 18-year high. But while this is certainly an impressive milestone, the sharp increase hasn’t […]
Category Archives: MACRO
Turkey’s currency crisis – what you should know
The Turkish lira has taken a heavy pounding recently as investors have started to doubt the country’s creditworthiness and economic outlook. At the time of writing, the value of the […]
When will China’s economy start to slow?
China reported a 6.8% year-on-year economic growth number for the first quarter. Again, the lack of volatility in the GDP data was striking. As the chart below reveals, economic growth […]
Macro surprise indices: great insights, not so great market predictors
Macroeconomic surprise indices have become increasingly popular in recent years. To many investors they matter more than the actual macro-economic numbers, which should make macro surprise indices a useful tool […]
Fed Review – Powell squeezes in one more
As expected, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate again this week. And while its new chairman Jay Powell didn’t mention any major changes in monetary policy from his […]
Is inflation finally coming?
The average unemployment rate in OECD countries has fallen to a historical low of 5.16%. And yet inflation has failed to reach the levels targeted by central banks. As a […]
The Void?
Just recently, bond investor PIMCO published the chart shown above. It’s one of many charts hitting headlines in recent weeks, revealing that the end of an era of unprecedented monetary […]
Federal Reserved
Last Thursday, the Federal Reserve lifted its target rate with another 25 basis points. Not like anybody cared, as the rate hike was signaled well in advance. More importantly, the […]
Jackson Hole and Charts
While there could be a lack of monetary policy announcements during this year’s Jackson Hole summit – Yellen pretty much confirmed the start of balance sheet unwinding to be September […]
Productivity Puzzle Solved: Central Banks, Again!
Productivity growth has dropped to alarmingly low levels. And not just in the US, where the figure has remained below 1% in recent years(!), but also in France and the […]
