Central Banks

The Growing Catastrophe Known as Abenomics

by David Stockman •  • Comments Off on The Growing Catastrophe Known as Abenomics

In a decade or two, nearly 40% of the Japanese population will be retired; and the single-risk it should never take is to induce a collapse of its currency, and the resulting sharp inflation of its import bill for virtually all its energy and industrial materials.

LEAKED: Draghi’s Sudden Switcheroo On QE

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on LEAKED: Draghi’s Sudden Switcheroo On QE

It happened at a private meeting with top lawmakers in Germany during a two-day shindig.

The Very Brief Phenomenon Of The Gold Standard

by Contributor •  • Comments Off on The Very Brief Phenomenon Of The Gold Standard

By Dr. Bryan Taylor: Europe was on a bimetallic standard, not a Gold Standard, from the Middle Ages until World War I. Gold triumphed in the 19th century because bimetallism had failed. This should have been taken as a sign that the gold standard too would inevitably fail.

Draghi’s Bold Push For Creeping Defaults And Real Wage Cuts

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Draghi’s Bold Push For Creeping Defaults And Real Wage Cuts

There is nothing like a wealthy central bank chief admitting that he wants to, one, help governments default gradually on their debts; and two, cut the real wages of workers. An honesty the Fed never dared to exhibit when it inflicted waves of QE on American workers.

“Uncreative” Destruction: The Troika’s Hostile Takeover of Europe

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on “Uncreative” Destruction: The Troika’s Hostile Takeover of Europe

By Don Quijones: The story is now playing out across Europe’s bailed-out nations. The losers are by and large the poor and middle classes, while the beneficiaries are the same as always: the world’s largest multinational corporations and banks.

What Happens When ‘All Assets Have Become Too Expensive?’

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on What Happens When ‘All Assets Have Become Too Expensive?’

A report from the asset management and investment banking division of Groupe BPCE, the second largest bank in France, predicts what daredevil voices at the maligned margin of financial analysis have worried about for a while: another global financial panic.

This Chart Shows When the Smart Money Saw The Abenomics Fail

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on This Chart Shows When the Smart Money Saw The Abenomics Fail

This year has been lumpy for stocks around the world. Gone are the wild rallies followed by mild rallies interrupted by minor downticks, followed by more rallies. That’s so 2013. It’s as if on December 31, someone turned off the spigot. But in Japan, it turned into a rout.

Head of EU’s Newfangled Bank Regulator: Markets Are Dumb, Pumps Stocks Of Teetering Banks To Keep them From Toppling

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Head of EU’s Newfangled Bank Regulator: Markets Are Dumb, Pumps Stocks Of Teetering Banks To Keep them From Toppling

It’s not often that a bank regulator proclaims stocks of teetering banks are undervalued because markets are too dumb to value them correctly. That’s what Danièle Nouy, chair of the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism just proclaimed. She has a motive.