Business

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,

As we reported yesterday, following the meeting held between Obama and Yellen last Monday, one reader tried to get some additional information on what was exchanged between the two most important people in the world beyond the cursory White House statement which is reposted below:

There is a saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its part. This may be true everywhere, except in China, where the total is whatever some goalseek machine decides it is.

We first saw China's flagrant manipulation of data when the nation released its "better than expected" trade "data" two weeks ago. As shown in the chart below, when it comes to the biggest contributor, imports from Hong Kong, it was beyond simply grotesque and had entered the sublimely ridiculous.