Business

It’s debatable whether or not the most recent move of the European Central Bank was unexpected, but it certainly sparks a lively discussion on the open market. Not only did the ECB reduce the lending rate on the refinancing facilities from 0.05% to 0% which basically means the banks that are part of the Eurosystem can borrow money for free, it also reduced the interest rate on the deposit facility by 0.10% to a negative 0.40%. Yes, -0.40%.

Source: Bloomberg.com

By EconMatters

Negative interest rates may or may not be a thing of the past (many thought that the ECB had learned its lesson, and then Vitor Constancio wrote a blog post showing that the ECB hasn't learned a damn thing), but the confusion about their significance remains. Here is Deutsche Bank's Dominic Konstam explaining how, among many other things including why Europe will need to "tax" cash before this final Keynesian experiment is finally over, negative rates are merely the logical failure of globalization.

Misconceptions about negative rates

For the past month, the price of oil has soared by a 50% on no fundamental catalyst; in fact, the "fundamental" situation has gotten progressively worse with the record oil inventory glut increasing by the day even as US crude oil production posted a modest rebound in the past week after two months of declines, while the much touted OPEC/non-OPEC oil production freeze has yet to be discussed, let alone implemented.

Courtesy of Point2Homes

When the average home price in San Francisco went over the $1 million threshold in the first half of 2015, it was pretty obvious for most people that the Bay city secured the top position as the most expensive housing market in the U.S. This is exactly what happened. According to records released at the end of last year, San Francisco is the superstar housing market not only in the U.S., but for the entire North America as well.