First came the BOJ.
Then the ECB.
And, just this past Wednesday, the Fed chimed into the global monetary easing chorus with no increase in the federal funds rate, and a solid statement that the FOMC would likely only increase rates twice in 2016, for a paltry 1/2 percent increase.
Such a move would put the rate at 0.75 to one percent by December of this year, or, put another way, just a touch lower than the Greenspan put of the early 2000s.
Those unfamiliar with recent history would not understand how Greenspan's easy rate policy led to various mal-investments, not the least of which were in the housing market, which led to a boom and then a bust and the 2008 financial crisis.
So, what the central bankers are telling us in a unified voice, is that they'll gladly take the risk of another massive financial implosion in order to keep the global fiat currency regime intact.
So far, they're doing quite well. There've been no mass protests, riots, or other noticeable social uprisings in the dominant economies of the developed nations, and, while detractors will proclaim that this regime of low (and even negative) interest rates cannot continue without devastating consequences, the world keeps spinning, the rich get richer and the rest of us carry on in quiet, medieval fashion, mumbling vaguely about unfairness and impropriety.
Elsewhere, stock owners are popping the champagne corks and drinking lustily from the font of the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of Japan, especially in the USA, which just completed one of the quickest and most violent market reversals in recorded history, bringing the Dow Jones Industrials and S&P 500 back to breakeven for the year.
In just over a month's time, the Dow has rallied more than 2,000 points off the mid-February lows. The S&P took off from 1810.10 to close at 2049.58 on Friday, an impressive, 13.23% move. Who said timing wasn't everything?
Buy and hold will be the order of the day, it seems, as long as the central bankers retain complete control over every market, everywhere. When that changes, nobody knows, though many still try. The piper, it appears, will be paid at a later date, likely of the central banks' choosing.
For an overview of the central bank monetary madness, and possible preview of what's ahead, the Telegraph offers keen insight with:
Central banks are already doing the unthinkable -- you just don't know it.
For the week:
DOW: +388.99 (2.26%)
S&P 500: +27.39 (1.35%)
NASDAQ: +47.18 (0.99%)
Friday's Fun Fed Figures:
S&P 500: 2,049.58, +8.99 (0.44%)
Dow: 17,602.30, +120.81 (0.69%)
NASDAQ: 4,795.65, +20.66 (0.43%)
Crude Oil 41.13 -1.27% Gold 1,256.00 -0.71% EUR/USD 1.1268 -0.02% 10-Yr Bond 1.8710 -1.68% Corn 366.50 -0.54% Copper 2.29 -0.28% Silver 15.82 -1.30% Natural Gas 1.89 -2.22% Russell 2000 1,101.67 +0.95% VIX 14.02 -2.91% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4471 -0.05% USD/JPY 111.5525 0.00%
Sunday, March 20, 2016
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