Archive | Monetary policy RSS feed for this section

Long precious metals, hope others stay long Treasuries

Please see my exclusive article at Seeking Alpha, “Why I’m Long Precious Metals (And Hope Others Will Continue to Buy Treasuries).” I look at some of the perils of investing in Treasuries; the performance of select assets and money growth since 1971 when president Nixon closed the gold window; and discuss my investments in iShares [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

The ongoing JGB battle

No doubt David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital) is an astute investor. Recently he declared his bearish view on JGBs, which subsequently has generated heavy interest among financial and political circles. Hats off to Gwen Robinson of FT Alphaville for solid ongoing coverage of the latest JGB tale (see JGBs and the ‘end’ of the short-squeeze fest). [...]

Read full story Comments are closed

Japan inadvertently intervenes to soften yen

The Japanese yen (JPY) is still “relatively” strong, but it has weakened by a pretty significant amount against the US$, nearly 10 points, in recent weeks. With much buzz of yen intervention leading up to the recent softness, one would have thought the MoF ran out of patience and intervened. Well, in fact, it kind [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Japanese stocks ‘fairly’ undervalued

The author’s intent is not to be misleading, but rather to be as frank as possible, regarding the longstanding debate of whether or not Japanese stocks are truly undervalued. In short, the answer is  no. I no longer believe Japanese stocks are undervalued, not to the extent that I once did, and not to the [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

UPDATE: Borderless Conventional Banking Failure

No surprise that the BoJ kept rates unchanged at 0.1%. That a return to deflation is expected comes as no surprise either, since in reality, deflation never really ended, even when commodities surged last year. Meanwhile, the Japanese are left in the same predicament, with next-to-zero returns on deposits and no real need or desire [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Bank of Japan caves in again

I don’t agree with the BoJ’s decision to cut from 0.3% –> 0.1%. The cost of borrowing is not the problem here. In fact, the impetus to cut was at least partially pressure from the MoF, in what amounts to a silly attempt to ease yen-strength. The reaction has been muted, and for now, the [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Japanese monetary policy: stealth liquidity

$225B in three weeks?! clipped from www.bloomberg.com Shirakawa Downplays Speculation for Joint Rate Cut The best way for central banks to counter the global financial crisis is to provide liquidity, Shirakawa said. The BOJ pumped 23 trillion yen ($225 billion) into the financial system over the past three weeks, the most in at least six [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }