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Posts Tagged ‘Federal Reserve’

Central Banks Dump Treasuries As Dollar’s Reserve Currency Status Fades

March 16, 2011 Comments off

forbes.com

By AGUSTINO FONTEVECCHIA
Official inflows vs total reserve accumulation – Nomura

Demand for US assets, especially Treasuries, has been waning since the beginning of 2011, with central banks around the world increasing reserve accumulation while dumping the greenback.  More signs that the dollar is dead as the world’s only reserve currency?

Nomura’s FX research and strategy team analyzed the latest numbers from the Treasury’s International Capital System.  “It looks like the trend of weak central bank demand for USD assets is persisting into 2011 (after a very weak Q4),” wrote Nomura’s global head of G10 FX strategy, Jens Nordvig in an email.  From November to January, central banks reduced their US dollar holdings by $9 billion; “given a fairly strong trend in global reserve accumulation Read more…

Japan catastrophe could make U.S. debt costlier

March 15, 2011 Comments off

reuters.com

The U.S. Treasury market could feel financial aftershocks from Japan’s tragic U.S. Treasury. Offloading some of the Asian giant’s $1 trillion of foreign reserves could raise cash to help rebuild after Friday’s disaster. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is due to end its Treasury bond-buying program in June. If Japan, the second-biggest foreign holder, starts selling that’s another support gone — with the potential to make borrowing more expensive for the U.S. government.

It’s too early to estimate the cost the Japanese government and private sectors will have to shoulder for reconstruction efforts. But bond investors can’t any longer take for granted that Japan will leave its ample reserves intact as it has, broadly speaking, for the past several years. For the government, cashing in could be more palatable than yet more borrowing. Japan’s debt already amounted to more than 200 percent of Read more…

The Rule of Gold after the Financial Collapse

March 15, 2011 Comments off

www.batr.org

 

“You can own silver and gold but never any fiat currency issued by someone else”
Peter Cajander

 

 

goldimf.gif
 

In a secular world, the operative “Golden Rule” is “He Who Has the Gold Makes the Rules”. The condition of the global financial banking system is untenable. The aggregate amount of debt worldwide is anyone’s guess. The introduction of derivatives and counter claims pushes the chain of obligations into the unknown. All that is left is for central banks to create mountains of uninterrupted counterfeit money to roll over and delay the inevitable. The IMF chart of World Currency Reserve is a skyrocket line to oblivion. It does not reflect a healthy stockpile of treasure, but certainly manifests a new debt machine running to infinity. The Bullion Vault explains this reality in the following manner.  

“Sure, the Fed can create money. But it can’t create Read more…

FEDERAL RESERVE OWNERSHIP LIST

March 12, 2011 Comments off

lawfulpath.com

Most Americans, if they know anything at all about the Federal Reserve, believe it is an agency of the United States Government. This article charts the true nature of the “National Bank.”

Chart 1

Source: ** Federal Reserve Directors: A Study of Corporate and Banking Influence ** – – Published 1976

Chart 1 reveals the linear connection between the Rothschilds and the Bank of England, and the London banking houses which ultimately control the Federal Reserve Banks through their stockholdings of bank stock and their subsidiary firms in New York. The two principal Rothschild representatives in New York, J. P. Morgan Co., and Kuhn, Loeb & Co. were the firms which set up the Jekyll Island Conference at which the Federal Reserve Act was drafted, who directed the subsequent successful campaign to have the plan enacted into law by Congress, and who purchased the controlling amounts of stock in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1914. These firms had their principal officers appointed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Advisory Council in 1914. In 1914 a few families (blood or business related) owning controlling stock in existing banks (such as in New York City) caused those banks to purchase controlling shares in the Federal Reserve regional banks. Examination of the charts and text in the House Banking Committee Staff Report of August, 1976 and the current stockholders list of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks show this same family control.

                                N.M. Rothschild , London - Bank of England
 Read more...

US Treasurys Dumped, Pimco Sees Value In Emerging-Market Bonds

March 11, 2011 Comments off

wsj.com

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The valuations on U.S. Treasurys are not attractive in a historical context and Pacific Investment Management Co. is moving money toward emerging-market debt, said the fund’s founder Bill Gross in an interview on Thursday with CNBC.

Reports came out on Thursday that the bond-fund giant had dumped all of its holdings of U.S. government bonds. Gross said better valuations can be found elsewhere, where yields are not artificially boost by Federal Reserve purchasing.

“The overvaluation [in Treasurys] has been dependent on the purchasing power of the Fed,” said Gross, who does not believe there will be a third round of “quantitative easing.”

Pimco did not participate in Thursday’s 30-year auction nor Wednesday’s 10-year auction, Gross said, though both were considered well-received.

The fund still owns about Read more…

Debit cards: $50 spending limit coming?

March 11, 2011 Comments off

cnn.com

Debit card limit By Blake Ellis, staff reporterMarch 10, 2011: 10:09 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Declined! Your debit card may soon be denied for purchases greater than $100 — or even as little as $50.

JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation’s largest banks, is considering capping debit card transactions at either $50 or $100, according to a source with knowledge of the proposal.

Why? Because of a tricky thing called interchange fees.

Right now, every time you swipe your debit card, your bank charges the retailer an average fee of 44 cents, which it shares with its partners. Those little fees, however, add up to about $16 billion per year, according to 2009 data from the Federal Reserve.

But as part of the Wall Street reform legislation that was passed last year, these fees are being slashed. The Fed is currently proposing rules that would go into effect in July and would cap interchange fees at 12 cents.

That’s a big enough cut to cost Read more…

The Coming Rout QE3

March 11, 2011 Comments off

chrismartenson.com

There’s a scenario that could play out between May and September in which commodities (including my beloved silver) and the stock and bond markets could all sell off between 20% and 40%.  The trigger will be the cessation of QE II and a multi-month pause before QE III.

This is a reversal in my thinking from the outright inflationary ‘buy with both hands’ bent that I have held for the past two years.  Even though it’s quite a speculative analysis at this early stage, it is a possibility that we must consider.

Important note: This is a short-term scenario that stems from my trading days, so if you are a long-term holder of a core position in gold and silver, as am I, nothing has changed in my extended outlook for these metals.  The fiscal and monetary path we are on has a very high likelihood of failure over the coming decade, and I see nothing that shakes that view.

But over the next 3-6 months, I have a few specific concerns.

It’s time to build on the idea I planted in the Insider article entitled Blame the Victim (February 28, 2011) where I speculated on the idea that the Fed might be forced to end its Read more…

Middle East Meltdown Could Mean Oil at $300 a Barrel, Pump Prices of $9.57 a Gallon

March 3, 2011 Comments off

moneymorning.com [Editor’s Note: U.S. oil prices yesterday (Tuesday) hit their highest levels since September 2008 as investors reacted to fears that Middle East tumult would spread from Libya to such key Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as Iran and Saudi Arabia. But never fear: Even if the Middle East melts down and oil prices soar, there are moves you can make to hedge away your risk. We have two suggestions for you here.] By Martin Hutchinson, Contributing Editor, Money Morning The unrest in the Middle East oil patch is roiling the global oil markets on an almost daily basis. The events in Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other countries are also forcing us to ask that long-dreaded question: What happens if the countries throughout the Middle East region fall to radical governments? The answer is both stunning and surprising. In an absolute worst-case scenario – if the entire Middle East falls under radical control – we could be looking at $300-a-barrel oil and pump prices of $9.57 a gallon. Definitely a stunner. Here’s the surprise: Even such a worst-case outcome would Read more…

Will $200 oil kill the economy?

March 2, 2011 Comments off

money.msn.com

Unrest in key oil-producing nations opens the door to price spikes that could push gas to $7 a gallon and spin the world back into recession. Here’s how we’d get there, and how to protect your portfolio.

Image: Oil drums © Kevin Phillips, Digital Vision, age fotostock


Are your pocketbook and portfolio ready for $200-a-barrel oil?

This kind of dramatic price spike may seem less likely now than a few days ago, with oil markets calming down a bit and the price slipping below $100. But given the instability and unrest rolling through the Middle East and North Africa, it’s a definitely a viable scenario.

For the moment, most oil sector analysts have gone off high alert because of a Saudi Arabian pledge to increase production to make up for any shortfalls sparked by unrest. But that ignores a key angle in all this: There’s simply not enough spare capacity to make up for the production losses we’d see if the rolling crises in the region hit just two or three major producers at once.

This could easily happen, given the heightened Read more…

Bernanke warns on oil price ‘threat’

March 2, 2011 Comments off

news.yahoo.com

Bernanke warns on oil price 'threat' AFP – US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban …
by Andrew Beatty Andrew Beatty

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday warned a “sustained” rise in oil prices could threaten US growth and spark dangerous price rises, as he eyed turmoil in Libya.

Bernanke told Congress he believed unrest in the oil-rich Middle East would result in “temporary” and “modest” increase in US prices, but acknowledged greater risks remain.

“The most likely outcome is that the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to Read more…