Germany's central bank reported its smallest profit in more than a decade in 2016 after setting aside a record amount of provisions against future losses on the bonds it is buying as part of the ECB's stimulus program, its annual report showed on Thursday. "It is fair to ask ... when we can take our foot off the monetary policy pedal," Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said while presenting the report.
Despite all the exuberant 'soft' survey data, The Fed's National Activity Index dropped in January and missed expectations as 49 of the 85 subcomponents deteriorated.
The Chicago Fed national index, which draws on 85 economic indicators, was minus 0.05 in January versus 0.18 in December.
A reading below zero indicates below-trend-growth in the national economy and a sign of easing pressures on future inflation.
As the dollar drops, and fears over US trade action may exaggerate capital outflows in China, Bitcoin has renewed its rally post-Golden Week to new record highs. The virtual currency is up 10 days in a row as we noted previously that the Chinese have discovered a workaround for the PBOC's crackdown on Bitcoin exchanges.
Record highs in USD terms... (not yet record highs in Yuan terms)
Confirming President Trump's concerns about US national debt levels, and that new policies will likely have limited impact in 2017, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin's comments this morning have sparked buying in bonds, bullion, and marginally in stocks as the dollar gets monkey-hammered.
After the WSJ article overnight provided some USD strength, his comments this morning seemed to dull any strong dollar hype...
Which is helping spark gold gains...
And Bitcoin back to record highs...
Today at 10:30am, president Trump will summon some of America’s most prominent corporate executives to the White House Thursday, in a roundtable brainstorming session whose purpose is to come up with policy ideas meant to facilitate trade and taxes, boost job creation and generally jump-start the US economy.