More QE and a possible crisis: What markets will do in 2015 December 16, 2014 UK stocks look likely to be dominated by political risk PREDICTING the year ahead in markets can be a fool’s game. Last December, fund managers’ 2014 look-aheads heralded the start of a year in which Japan’s shock and awe Abenomics tactics would finally end its disinflationary misery, while the Eurozone would begin to turn a [...]
Japan’s perpetual QE machine: Could the exercise end in tears? December 1, 2014 Some analysts think inflation at any cost is the wrong aim THE WORLD’S third largest economy now has the same credit rating as Bermuda, Oman and the Czech Republic, after rating agency Moody’s downgraded Japan’s debt from “Aa3” to “A1” yesterday morning. The yen crashed against the dollar (dollar-yen topped ¥119 just after the announcement, [...]
Why Draghi may opt against full QE – CNBC Comment November 3, 2014 As one major central bank – the US Federal Reserve – closes the quantitative easing door, markets are hoping that another – the European Central Bank (ECB) – will throw it wide open again. Many economists now expect that ECB president Mario Draghi will usher in a quantitative easing policy, involving buying up countries’ debt, [...]
ECB council member Ewald Nowotny: We cannot rule out quantitative easing in the Eurozone October 31, 2014 We cannot rule out quantitative easing in the Eurozone: that was the message European Central Bank governing council member Ewald Nowotny gave CNBC today. "I think that we have all learned in life that we should never say 'never',” Nowotny told the channel. Nowotny is generally considered a hawk, preferring the austere German methods of [...]
Nikkei jumps on Bank of Japan quantitative easing shock October 31, 2014 Following the US Fed's decision this week to draw its quantitative easing programme to a close, yesterday the Bank of Japan (BoJ) took the opposite stance, announcing plans to vastly expand its monetary easing programme. The Bank’s approach under Shinzo Abe has been anything but passive, but the announcement it would increase asset purchases so [...]
As QE ends in the US, has it changed the world for the better? October 29, 2014 Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Many people, including me, expected QE to cause uncontrollable inflation and end in disaster. How wrong we were. The US and the UK, which did QE, are growing healthily. The Eurozone, which didn’t, is in ruins. QE helps to keep nominal spending steady during [...]
Markets keep their cool as Federal Reserve ends quantitative easing October 29, 2014 The Federal Reserve has announced the end of its monthly $15bn bond-buying programme, adding that its intention is to maintain low interest rates for "considerable time". The Fed was more bullish on the state of the US labour market, and all its members with the exception of one voted to draw quantitative easing (QE) to [...]
Is the world ready for the end of quantitative easing? Global markets rise on great Fed expectations October 29, 2014 What a difference a year makes. This time in 2013, markets across the world were thrown into turmoil as rumours abounded that the US Fed would begin tapering its quantitative easing programme. Fast forward 12 months, and the same markets have remained cheerful, even as the US' rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee prepares to make [...]
QE or not QE? Mario Draghi’s policy dilemma – CNBC Comment September 29, 2014 It seems as if the European Central Bank (ECB) has been debating whether to head down the QE path forever. ECB-watchers have been reduced to pondering what the shade of Mario Draghi’s (usually blue) tie might mean for future asset purchases. But no matter how reluctant Draghi might be to label it as such, this [...]
Eurozone service sector’s slowdown puts pressure on ECB to undertake quantitative easing September 3, 2014 The Eurozone’s services firms flagged a further slowdown in the troubled currency bloc’s growth yesterday, with surveys indicating that the region is growing at the slowest pace this year so far, putting pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB). The Eurozone’s composite purchasing managers’ index, collated by Markit, dropped to just 52.5 – the lowest [...]