Authored by Steve H. Hanke of The Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.
The Saudi deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, recently pulled the plug on an output freeze deal that was scheduled to have been signed by oil producers in Doha, Qatar. Since then, the press has been filled with the same story: Prince Mohammed was offended because Iran was a “no show” in Doha. So, he shredded the draft output freeze agreement.
The latest shocking example of just how intertwined central banks have become in not only Treasury and corporate bond markets and their respective "valuations", but also in stocks, comes courtesy of the Bank of Japan which days ahead of an announcement which may see it double its ETF purchases from the current JPY3.3 trillion to JPY7 trillion or more (if Goldman is correct) has just been revealed to be a top 10 holder in about 90% of all Japanese stocks!
Ahead of two key central banks events this week, the Fed announcement on Wednesday - in which Yellen is expected to do nothing and most likely will continue the dovish relent first seen a month ago - and then the BOJ on Thursday (which also mark the anniversary of the second longest and most artificial bull market in history) where Kuroda is increasingly expected to shock with something even more ridiculous, global shares have fallen modestly around the world as oil declined on signs a global surplus of crude is likely to persist.
Submitted by Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk via Bawerk.net,