Markets were up again big today and volatility was down. But we haven’t seen the last of rising volatility, nor of the central banks’ attempts to thwart it.
This week, new Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be giving his first congressional testimony, and you can be sure that markets are waiting on his words with bated breath.
Before his testimony, the Fed will be releasing its Monetary Policy Report, which will also give an indication to the direction of Fed policy. Continue reading
The 1992 presidential election turned on one key phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.” The Cold War had been won. America was the sole superpower of the world. We had just won the Gulf War. And, Americans were tired. We wanted to enjoy our prosperity. It was at that moment that we officially began to separate and silo the critical issues of the day. President Reagan, twelve years before, had integrated three critical issues and focused the whole of his administration on them. These were known collectively as Reagan’s “three-legged stool.” Judeo-Christian Values. Free Market Economics. Strong National Defense. But when Clinton arrived, we were told that the economy mattered most. What a President does in his private life is irrelevant so long as the economy is booming, or so we were told. Who cares if something called al Qaeda attacks targets overseas? Why should that matter as long as we have the most powerful weapons? Continue reading
Global Geopolitics 