Happy Landings as quantitative easing slows
A couple of weeks ago, helicopter Ben (a.k.a. Ben Bernanke) announced the Federal Reserve was going to slow down the rate at which it was printing money. The printing presses, known as quantitative easing were always going to stop at some point. The fact that so much notice was given shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But it jolted the market. In my view, we should look at the background to the announcement, which is a return to economic growth and a fall in unemployment. Over the past few months, the stimulus of billions of dollars being printed aligned with low interest rates has...
Read MoreJust like buses – central banks announcements
Last week was notable for news affecting the value of major currencies. We waited all week for announcements from central banks and just like buses, three came along at once. The Bank of England’s announcement to print another £50 billion was anticipated. The markets knew that was going to happen. At the moment of the announcement, a small blip in the value of GBPUSD just confirmed the inevitable. The European Central Bank then duly obliged with a quarter point cut from 1%. This bit was expected by the market. The Euro went into free fall on the back of the ECB reducing the overnight...
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