21 Mar 2014

Posted at 12:47h in The Friday Brief by
  Janet Yellen's first Federal Open Market Committee policy statement as Fed chair caused a bit of a ruckus in both the Treasury and stock markets. As experts have pointed out, it wasn't so much what she said, but rather what the "dots" portend for future interest rate hikes. There was no surprise when the Fed announced they would continue to reduce their monthly purchases of Treasuries by $10 billion per month to a still very large $55 billion starting in April. The sell-off of short and intermediate Treasuries was triggered, according to Barrons by a chart of projections showing FOMC members' expectations of where the fed funds rate would be at the end of 2015.

20 Apr 2007

Posted at 14:53h in The Friday Brief by
Equal Parts Capital, Free Trade, Information, Oil, and a Dose of Cooperation to Hold It All Together What is the greatest threat to the world economy? Is it a slowing US economy, inflation, protectionism ,China’s explosive and unchecked growth, a financial or liquidity crisis, global warming, terrorism, or energy? While any one of these and certainly any combination could cripple the unprecedented economic advances we enjoy today, the great barometers, the stock and bond markets remain relatively unfazed.