A few years ago we asked why anyone would exclude litigation charges from bank EPS. While we are still waiting for someone to explain that to us, we'd like to show an update on just how dilutive to shareholder value these "one-time, non-recurring" litigation charges have been over the past six years.
"At the end of the day, negative interest rates are taxes in sheep’s clothing. Few economists would ever claim that raising taxes on households will stimulate spending. So why would they think negative interest rates will?" Those are the shocking words of St.Louis Fed Director of Research Christopher Waller whose brief note today will be required reading for everyone at The Bank of Japan, The ECB and every other central banker on the verge of NIRP...
Whether it was funded by Soros, the CIA, the Rothschilds or even Putin is unclear, but moments ago the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists - the group responsible for preparing and organizing the Panama Papers leak - published a searchable database laying out 214,000 offshore entities created in 21 jurisdictions, from Nevada to Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.
Former Goldmanite, and current Minneapolis Fed president and paradoxical "crusader" against TBTF banks and bank bailouts (such as the one he was instrumental in drafting during the financial crisis) Neil Kashkari, spoke moments ago at the Economic Club of Minnesota, where he delivered a speech titled "The Role and Limitations of Monetary Policy." Among the otherwise irrelevant things he said the following:
It often comes as a surprise to those unfamiliar with the Bank of Japan's M.O., that unlike other developed central banks (except the SNB, of course, while even the PBOC recently admitted it now buys stocks directly to prop up the Chinese stock market via the Buttonwood SPV), the BoJ has no qualms about admitting it actively purchases equities, either in the form of single name stocks or, more actively in recent years, ETFs. Or, as the case may now be, selling them.