One of the key drivers of the improved market sentiment since December has been that the US Fed has been very consistent in its messaging. Indeed every meeting since then, Janet Yellen and her colleagues have reduced the level of monthly asset purchases by USD10 billion. However, before this process... Show More
Perpetual's Matt Sherwod on the key messages for investors from last week. Last week we saw how powerful the US Fed can be in moving markets. The sheer mention of rates being moved ahead of expectations saw markets incur sizable losses, until investors determined that the US economy would have... Show More
My guide to the upcoming FOMC meeting (positioning, sentiment, expectations) - www.ig.com/au/highlights/2014/03/18/chris-weston-s-guide-to-the-fomc-meeting-15117 Show More
Height of QE equal to minus 2% rate. The economists, Jing Cynthia Wu and Fan Dora Xia, used a concept known as the shadow rate to gauge the impact of quantitative easing and the Fed's forward guidance on the likely path of interest rates. Their findings? As of December, Fed... Show More
Nothing surprising out of this month's FOMC meeting. The Fed is reducing their bond buying program by another $10 billion, as expected. Total Treasury and MBS purchases will now be $65 billion per month. Other than that, the Fed statement has very few changes from December's. The Fed's language suggest... Show More
In the latest macro economic update, John Abernethy, Chief Investment Officer and George Whitehouse, Portfolio Manager from Clime Asset Management explain implications of Australian equities in 2014. Visit the link to watch the full video http://www.clime.com.au/investing-report-archive/december-2013-sydney-investor-briefing/ Show More
The moment of truth has arrived... and the Fed has decided to begin tapering in January. The central bank is cutting $5 billion off its Treasuries purchases and $5 billion off its MBS purchases to reduce the total amount of bond purchases to $75 billion a month. For the economy,... Show More
Could the Fed taper in December after all? Just a week or two ago, a December reduction in the Fed's bond buying program was considered a near impossibility. However, a slew of positive economic reports, especially regarding an improving job market, has revived the chances of a taper this month.... Show More
In the US, positive economic news continues to roll in, throwing into question the timing of the Fed's much anticipated (or feared) tapering plans. First off, GDP was revised significantly higher to 3.6%, up from 2.8%. The big upward revision came from a much higher than expected expansion in inventories.... Show More
Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen will have the daunting task of winding down Fed stimulus without causing the equity markets to collapse. In fact, one of the first decisions Yellen will have to make as Bernanke's successor is when and how much to reduce bond purchases. Presumably some time in... Show More
Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the worlds largest fund manager says the Fed's delay on tapering is now creating bubbles in various markets. We've seen real bubble-like markets again. We've had a huge increase in the equity market. We've seen corporate-debt spreads narrow dramatically, It's imperative that the Fed begins... Show More
Despite the S&P 500 being up over 20% for the year, there's still a lot that can go wrong these last 3 months. Of course, the potential US government shutdown is bad news, but don't forget the debt ceiling debate is also in play this month. There's also the Fed's... Show More