The Independent Market Observer

Is the U.S. Losing the Currency Wars?

March 27, 2015

Plenty of people are concerned about the “currency wars” now playing out around the world. As you might guess from the quotes, I don’t entirely agree with the notion that we’re at war—and I’m even less convinced that the consequences would be as extreme as that kind of language implies.

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A Return to a More Mysterious Fed

March 19, 2015

As expected, today’s economic headlines revolve around the Fed’s meeting and news conference—specifically, the conspicuous absence of the word “patient” from the minutes. Chairwoman Janet Yellen was at pains to point out that removing “patient” didn’t mean the Fed would be impatient. Stirring stuff.

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The Return of the Debt Limit

March 16, 2015

Once again, we’ve hit the federal government’s borrowing limit. Having maxed out its credit card with the bond markets, the U.S. government is now pursuing the “usual emergency measures” while waiting for Congress to approve an increase in the debt limit.

We’ll probably be hearing about this, at high volume, for quite a while—and, based on past experience, right up until the last minute—so it’s worth understanding what is likely to happen.

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Employment Rises Strongly Again: So, What’s the Problem?

March 6, 2015

This week, I gave a talk at the Commonwealth Leaders Conference where I laid out what I thought was a pretty compelling argument for a continued and strengthening recovery. The problem with arguments like this, especially if you’re taking a position, is that the facts can blow up in your face.

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Negative Interest Rates in Europe

February 27, 2015

Lost in the hand-wringing over whether, when, and how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, something very interesting is happening in the rest of the world.

In many countries in Europe—including, for the first time, Germanyinterest rates have gone negative.

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Greece and the Minsky Moment

February 25, 2015

Over the weekend, we saw one of the major risk factors in the world take a step back from the brink. Greece and Germany essentially agreed to disagree for the next couple of months, giving the Greeks enough rope to either weave a ladder down (the Greek version) or hang themselves (the German version).

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Will She or Won’t She? Janet Yellen and Interest Rates

February 24, 2015

Janet YellenAll eyes (at least in the economics world) are on Janet Yellen today as she sits down to update Congress on what the Federal Reserve is doing.

What will she say? When are rates going up?

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The Outside View: The U.S. Labor Market

February 23, 2015

I’ve maintained for some time that the U.S. labor market is doing very well. Although it's too soon to call it a "boom," that isn’t out of the question given job-creation levels unseen since the mid-1990s and a drop in the unemployment rate back to normal levels.

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Are We in Tech Bubble Territory?

February 19, 2015

A headline on CNBC yesterday morning caught my eye: “Nasdaq back to bubble highs.” What it meant, of course, was that the Nasdaq stock index is approaching the levels of 2000. What it said, or at least what I read, was that the tech market is back in a bubble.

I have to admit, I probably interpreted it that way because that’s what I have been thinking for some time.

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Appearance on Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo, February 12, 2015 [Video]

February 13, 2015

In case you missed it, I was in studio for Fox Business's Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo on Thursday, February 12. We covered a lot of ground, including retail sales and employment, developments in the EU with Greece, and the U.S. markets.

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