Summers Out as Fed Chair Nets Bond Buying - September 16, 2013 14:00

The news that Larry Summers has withdrawn his name from contention for being Ben Bernanke’s replacement as the Chairman of the FOMC had an immediate effect on the markets, sending equity futures rising along with bond prices.  The benchmark 10 year US Treasury Note yield dropped nearly 90 basis points and is trading at an […]

Gold Plays Possum While Yields Continue to Rise - June 18, 2013 1:46

After Friday’s Hilsen-Rumor put an exclamation point on the idea that bond yields would be turning around after a six week wild ride to the upside, lo and behold what a new week begets.  Yields held steady early in the day and a late article by the Financial Times now has the tapering of QE […]

Gold Breaks Through $1400 on Japan Volatility - May 31, 2013 3:23

The key to understanding how the Federal Reserve has been able to keep the price of gold under control for the past six months during all of this QE has been to look at the Japanese Yen.  I might be smarter than the average bear but sometimes it takes a village to figure out why […]

Bonds Routed, Stocks Up, All is Normal? - May 28, 2013 22:24

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 […]

Bond Yields Rise On QE Tapering Rumor - May 13, 2013 22:39

Long maturity bonds from a number of important governments have been rising for the past few weeks, most notably U.S. Treasuries after hitting an interim low yield of 2.812% have risen steadily since then, closing at 3.125% today and threatening April’s high yield of 3.14%.  It is looking more and more probable that we will […]

Oil Ends Week Near Lows, S&P Levitates - April 20, 2013 0:56

Let it not be said that the Federal Reserve is not dogged in their pursuit of market conditions that it deems as necessary.  Strategic commodities like oil and copper were pummeled this week and in previous weeks while the equity market on, frankly, horrific early earnings reports, continues to levitate.  With today being options expiration […]

Gold Ends Week Above $1400 Despite COMEX - April 19, 2013 23:23

Coming into the European open at 3am this morning (EST) Gold was threatening to cross back through the 200 week moving average.  This is not a level I take a lot of stock in, preferring both the 144 and 288 EMA lines personally.  But, many traders do use the 200 period MA as a reference […]

The Euro Yen Unwind Continues - April 12, 2013 1:13

Watching the currency markets right now is an interesting exercise — not a complicated one.  The apocryphal Mrs. Watanabe is pulling her money out of her homeland and depositing it around the world in other currencies and government bonds that promise a far better real yield since her home country has seen fit to reward […]

The Yen Approaches 100, The Euro Stabilizes - April 8, 2013 21:33

We have not seen the end of the Yen debasement by any stretch of one’s imagination.  The Japanese monetary dumping ground has been in free fall since markets opened Sunday night and the USDJPY pair is now comfortably over 99 and headed to 100 easily this week.  The U.S. bond market has given back more […]