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’Postcard from the Pyrenees
Bears are endangered and misunderstood. Here in the French Pyrenees, with only some 20 left in the wild, the authorities have been trying to introduce some Slovakian bears to the mountains to beef up the population.
China’s surprise trade deficit? Blame it on the moon
The markets are all a-flutter with news of China’s ‘shock’ trade deficit.
The People’s Republic posted a deficit of $7.3bn in February, its biggest in seven years, according to Reuters. Initial reaction was swift,
When multilateral monetary policy is not an option…
One of the reasons why Beijing has tended to stockpile US Treasuries is connected to the need to absorb surpluses generated via the US trade deficit with China.
China’s dollar peg largely depends on the process.
Bernanke hints dollar standard is flawed
Blink and you may have missed it.
But last Friday, Ben Bernanke probably made his most important speech since his ‘helicopter money’ talk almost eight years ago.
According to author and economist Richard Duncan this is the first time the Federal Reserve chairman has publicly pointed out that the international monetary system may have a structural flaw.
Trade deficit back to (ab)normal
Only a few things to note about Thursday’s announcement from the US Census Bureau that the United States trade deficit had climbed back to $46bn:
Nearly all of the increase in the deficit from July was down to a rise in goods imports,
More on the US trade figures and global imbalances
Thursday’s US trade report from the Census Bureau brought some welcome news, though it’s probably best not to get too excited just yet.
Exports resumed growing again after a slight dip in June, while imports declined by $4.2bn.
Oops, MBS settlements failing again
Oh dear.
After reversing their upward trajectory of late, MBS trade settlement fails in the US primary dealer repo market picked up rather forcefully last week.
This, for example, is how the latest primary dealer data survey from the New York Fed showed fails to deliver and receive coming in respectively:
The bad news on US Trade
The US trade deficit narrowed to $-36.0bn in January from a revised $-39.9bn in December and compared with consensus expectations for $-38bn .
Good news right?
Well, not necessarily. The devil,