Japan’s Shifting Power Alliances

 

I’ve just wrapped up a long trip to Japan. And I’ve taken away one lesson from all of my conversations, speeches and research: The rise of nationalism in the U.S. will cause massive shifts in global trade alliances.

One of the main beneficiaries will be Japan. Now, Japan might not be on your radar, day-to-day, but it’s about to play a very important role in the world of Donald Trump.

Here’s what I mean…

Central banks ‘have never been on thinner ice’

Banks are in over their heads in trouble. Central banks are over their heads in trouble as well. The only thing left to bail them all out would be the IMF — which is within the realm of possibility as we enter a harsh downturn.

 

Sentiment at IMF annual meeting sours on Fed, BOJ, ECB

The global financial elite has soured on global central bank policy, believing that it’s now counterproductive, doing more harm than good.

That was the message on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington, where in informal survey of more than 100 bankers found more than 70% saying monetary policy is now part of the problem instead of a solution.

Bank of Japan Going Even Deeper Into Negative Rates

Former Japanese Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka said on Wednesday the Bank of Japan will lower its minus 0.1 percent interest rate further to achieve its 2 percent inflation target.

…

(TRUNEWS Vero Beach, FL) – Takenaka stressed that “core-core inflation”, which excludes food and energy prices, rose around 1 percent last year, reversing the 1 percent decline seen before BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the post early 2013.

“I think BOJ Governor Kuroda has been doing well, although there is strong criticism.”

World Currency Profit Game Plan – Phase 1

Recently, I told you I was working on a special world currency report, with profit recommendations for a large basket of currencies.

…

The simplest way to do this is to start with the Big Five. These major currencies serve as the “drivers” for the minor ones. In my upcoming Part 2, I’ll tell you which of the minor currencies (like the Aussie dollar or the Swiss franc) are tied to which of the major ones, how that impacts their direction, and how you can profit.

Right now, we’ll start with profit recommendations for the five major currencies that drive all the rest.

Japan Is Fast Approaching the Quantitative Limits of Quantitative Easing

Time for a Plan (Perpetual) B, says Jefferies.

The Bank of Japan is running out of government bonds to buy.

The central bank’s would-be counterparties have become increasingly unwilling to sell the debt that monetary policymakers have pledged to buy, and the most recently issued 30-year Japanese bond didn’t record a single trade during a session last week as existing owners opted to hoard their holdings.

The central bank in the land of the rising prices sun has set a target of 80 trillion yen ($733 billion) in government bond purchases per year in its continued attempts to slay deflation, an amount that’s more than double the pace of new bond issuance planned by the Ministry of Finance and about 16 percent of gross domestic product.

This Looks Like the 2008 Stock Market Crash All Over Again

U.S. markets logged their fifth straight week of gains last week, pushing the Dow and S&P 500 into positive territory for the first time in 2016. But despite those gains, the fears of a stock market crash are still very real.

In fact, Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani says this rally reminds him of the one that preceded the 2008 stock market crash…

Japan adopts negative interest rate in bid to spur growth

Japanese savers faced the shock of negative interest rates on their bank balances on Friday, as the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy committee took the unprecedented move to get the nation spending.

Five of the nine members of the BOJ Policy Board were in favor of the rate of minus 0.1 percent. The news followed a two-day meeting by the board.

QE’s Creeping Communism

Central banks and respective governments are running out of magical tricks to pull out of the hat.

As already done in America [government takeover of the banking industry (government bailout) and health industry (“Obamacare”)], the next step is the nationalization of industries in other developed nations like we’re seeing now in Japan.

This paves the way for communist rule by stealth, but most people don’t see this so long as the shopping malls are remain open and they can still drink their beer while watching the NFL.

 

Despite its much longer experience with monetary stimulus, Japan’s economy remains listless and has continuously flirted with recession. In spite of this failure, Japanese leaders, especially Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (and his ally at the Bank of Japan (BoJ), Haruhiko Kuroda), have recently doubled down on all prior bets. This has meant that the Japanese stimulus is now taking on some ominous dimensions that have yet to be seen here in the U.S. In particular, the Bank of Japan is considering using its Quantitative Easing budget to buy large quantities of shares of publicly traded Japanese corporations.So for those who remain in doubt, Japan is telling us where this giant monetary experiment leads to: Debt, stagnation and nationalization of industry. This is not a destination that any of us, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, should be happy about.

This Is The Endgame, According To Deutsche Bank

 

DB’s Jim Reid lays out the “endgame” scenario, one which this website first said is inevitable back in 2009. With Citi and Macquarie already on board, expect what was once merely the figment of a “deranged tinfoil conspiracy-theory blog’s” imagination, to become global monetary policy. And yes, the real endgame is the one we have said from day one: total fiat (and conventional economics) collapse.

* * *

From Deutsche Bank’s chief credit strateigst

HSBC fears world recession with no lifeboats left

The world authorities have run out of ammunition as rates remain stuck at zero. They have no margin for error as economy falters

The world economy is disturbingly close to stall speed. The United Nations has cut its global growth forecast for this year to 2.8pc, the latest of the multinational bodies to retreat.

We are not yet in the danger zone but this pace is only slightly above the 2.5pc rate that used to be regarded as a recession for the international system as a whole.

It leaves a thin safety buffer against any economic shock – most potently if China abandons its crawling dollar peg and resorts to ‘beggar-thy-neighbour’ policies, transmitting a further deflationary shock across the global economy.

Markets More: HSBC Bearish HSBC WARNS: The world economy faces a ‘titanic problem’

HSBC chief economist Stephen King is already thinking about the next recession.

In a note to clients Wednesday, he warns: “The world economy is like an ocean liner without lifeboats. If another recession hits, it could be a truly titanic struggle for policymakers.”

Bank Of Japan’s Plunge Protection Desperation: “May Buy Individual Stocks”

Earlier this month, the BoJ surveyed 40 dealers and discovered something shocking: buying the entirety of JGB gross issuance has had a rather dramatic effect on liquidity. In fact, two thirds of the firms who participated reported having “some or a lot” of problems and described bid-asks as “not very tight.” Today, an internal report from the central bank indicates officials are slowly coming to accept the fact that their actions have consequences although as you can see from the following, the fact that the BoJ is literally buying all of the bonds is still low on the list of factors the central bank figures might be negatively affecting liquidity…

David Stockman: The Global Economy Has Entered The Crack-Up Phase

 

Few people understand the global economy and its (mis)management better than David Stockman — former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, best-selling author of The Great Deformation, and veteran financier.

David is now loudly warning that events have entered the crack-up phase, which he predicts will be defined by the following 4 developments:

How Many More “Saves” Are Left in the Central Bank Bazookas?

The master narrative of the global economy shifted six years ago from “China will push global growth for decades to come” to “the central banks can push global growth for decades to come.”

Time after time we’ve witnessed enfeebled global markets jolted out of terminal declines by central bank pronouncements and new money-printing policies. Never mind that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Mario Draghi had no concrete proposals in hand when he announced the ECB would “do whatever it takes” to save the European Union from the financial consequences of its reckless abandonment of risk management; the mere announcement was enough to trigger a massive reversal in global markets.

Is China Preparing for Currency War?

China has entered the global monetary-easing fray, along with more than a dozen other economies, after its central bank surprised investors by cutting reserve requirements 50 basis points to spur lending and combat deflation. But Beijing may be raring for an even bigger and more perilous fight — in the currency markets.

…

At the same time, something else is afoot in Beijing could have even greater global impact. The central bank is cooking up measures to widen the band in which its currency trades. People’s Bank of China officials say it’s about limiting volatility as capital zooms in and out of the economy. Let’s call it what it really is: the first step toward yuan depreciation and currency war.