LiveWire Economics Blog
Currency Articles, LiveWire Economics Blog - May 28, 2013 22:24
Bonds Routed, Stocks Up, All is Normal?
As if there was ever any doubt that the central banks would not flood the world with unlimited amounts of paper as the Bank of Japan and the ECB both reaffirmed their loose monetary policies which sent equities around the world flying higher. It is too bad, of course, that organic growth only accounts for [...]
Commodity and Equity Bifurcation Continues Towards Plaid
The markets have gone plaid. We had horrible Chinese and German flash PMI data come out this morning which kept commodity prices under duress all day. Copper continues its trek towards $3.00 per lb. Silver broke back below $23 after challenging $24 yesterday. The grain complex was whacked across the board in late session trading [...]
Energy Prices Rise to Begin Q2
The first quarter of 2013 were a complete roller coaster ride in the energy space. We saw U.S. gasoline futures de-couple from Brent crude prices on RIN speculation and natural gas prices close the quarter back over $4.00 per million BTUs for the first time in nearly 2 years. Quietly, with the continuing saga unfolding [...]
Cyprus Headlines Are Deja Vu All Over Again
What is it about the European Union and the month of March? It was almost a year to the day that the Troika unveiled its secret plan to thieve the bank depositors in Cyrpus from the fateful Greek elections that resulted in actual impairment of holders of Greek debt. Greece was fixed only by overthrowing [...]
Cyprus Risk-Off Trade Pulls Equities Lower
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials both closed off slightly today as this was a risk-off kind of day in most every way. Following up Friday’s weakness into the close with today’s drop is creating a pause in equities as fresh fears over the stability of the European banking system have been raised [...]
Italian Elections and The “Throw the Bums Out” Vote
I didn’t give the initial election returns from Italy much significance because so little of the political game is actually not completely staged for our benefit. But the more I read about Beppi Grillo and his Five Star Movement the more I’m paying attention to what’s going on. Specifically that his: goal was to do [...]
E.C.B. Holds Rates, Sends Gold, Commodities Higher
The E.C.B.’s latest policy meeting ended with the central bank not bowing to pressure from choking banks to lower interest rates and held the benchmark lending rate at 0.75% for the time being. This lifted the cloud that had been hanging over the Euro for the past few weeks while capital in the major U.S. [...]
Commodities Firm on Oil Data
The commodity complex was firm again today after the latest U.S. oil inventories were released. While this data is more important for the price of West Texas Intermediate it still has an effect on marginal demand. Brent Crude refused to back down below $111 after challenging the recent channel highs above $112 yesterday. If this [...]