Central banks do not play games with the markets but it sure feels like we are being played by someone! Earlier this year the Bank of Japan, Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank all had similar balance sheets at around $4.5 trillion.  As we know, over the past ten years all three have risen from lower levels but have […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Your proposition that the quantity of money theory is dead seems to be a true earth shattering perspective. It certainly disproves the Austrian School and the events post 2008 support your statement. The European Central Bank is supposed to traditionally pursue the goal of monetary stability. The Germans have followed the Austrian […]

After the unchanged call from the Federal Reserve, within hours we hear the same from the Bank of Japan. Asian equity markets drifted broadly lower with profit-taking the main reason behind many of the moves. The Nikkei continues slightly under recent highs with another small gain (+0.2%) to add to recent advances and was helped […]

It is probably no surprise that markets are quiet ahead of the Federal Reserve announcement which is probably about to dictate the next chapter in the storey. Both the Shanghai and Hang Seng closed marginally firmer (+0.3%) on the day but added to the Asian mix is the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting also […]

After Fridays positive move in western markets and especially US markets hitting yet more record highs, Asia responded with equal optimism. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the KOPSI performed the best of the crowd with a stunning 1.3% a piece. The Shanghai index traded just 0.3% better but probably reflected the miss in New Home […]

QUESTION:  I wonder if you would care in a future blogpost to cast some light on the following? The sole ‘legal tender money’ in the final analysis is the FRN (Federal Reserve Note — coins aside) collateralized by the Fed’s assets.All other ‘money’ is private bank credit money or suchlike,including Money Market Funds and other […]

Governments and central banks across the world are still concerned about the lack of inflation or significant growth and we saw evidence again in that today from the Japanese Q2 GDP release. Well below estimate of 4% this mornings release came in at 2.5%. Mario Draghi also commented on growth concerns in yesterdays ECB meeting […]

The head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, has warned politicians against turning back financial market regulation, yet she herself does not comprehend what the regulation truly accomplished. She has warned that any adjustments to the framework should be discreet. The Jackson Hole gathering turned out to be financially tense. Yellen admonished politicians stating bluntly that […]

The clouds have not lifted from the heart of the financial center within the European Union on the continent. The origin of the next crisis is unseen yet in plain view if you care to look. Ten years since the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the core fundamental problems in the banking sector have not yet […]

Markets in Asia were looking like they have been on borrowed time a few days this week and so a small retracement ahead of todays US numbers is no real surprise. Most indices were lower but saw a deserved bounce in the KOPSI after yesterdays drumming and also a small gain for the Hang Seng […]