US 30yr Swaps have yielded less than Treasuries since 2008 – does it matter?
byWith 30yr Swap yields below T-bond yields arbitrage should be possible Higher capital requirements have increased the cost of holding T-bonds Central clearing has…
The Next Step in Europe’s Negative-Interest-Rate Experiment
byThe European Central Bank (ECB) pushed its deposit rate to minus 0.4 percent in April 2016: Since then, euro area banks must pay 0.4…
Give us another Oil boom
byDear Lord, Y’all give us another oil boom… If there is one sector of the US economy where an Austrian-style Boom-and-Bust bust has taken…
Benn Steil: RMB Globalization, Once “Unstoppable,” Heads Into Reverse
by“The globalisation of the [Chinese RMB] seems remorseless and unstoppable,” the Economist pronounced in April 2014. A year later, a research-grant foundation asked me…
Auditing the Fed Is Now More Important than Ever
byBy Jonathan Newman Last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform approved a bill submitted by Thomas Massie (R-KY) to allow Congress to…
‘Nowhere To Go But Up’ Survives Because The Fed Refuses To Be Honest About Its Assessment of the Output Gap
byby Jeffrey P. Snider The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke committed several unforgivable mistakes during his tumultuous tenure, but cumulatively they could be easily…
Trump’s Economic Warfare Targets Innocent Bystanders
byAn often forgotten truth is that it is not just military warfare that can cause injury to innocent bystanders, the same inescapably happens in…
Yellen’s Balance Sheet Baloney
byBy George Selgin Of the many questions reporters asked Janet Yellen on Wednesday, at her press conference following the FOMC’s decision to raise the Fed’s policy…
Zero Hedge: Two Fed Presidents Warn Markets Getting “Frothy”, Valuations “May Come Down”
byIn what was the clearest sign to date that the Fed is targeting the stock market bubble with its rate hikes (recall two weeks…
For Keynesians and Austrians, “Uncertainty” Means Two Different Things
byBy G. P. Manish and Felicia Cowley Keynesian economics has witnessed a remarkable resurgence since the crisis of 2008. The inability of mainstream economics to predict or…