It's official: according to most news sources, tomorrow Trump will announce that Fed governor Jerome "Jay" Powell is Janet Yellen's replacement as the next bank-friendly Fed chair. Since Powell has served as Federal Reserve governor for the past five years, starting May 2012, he has had ample opportunities to express his views about the policies he will oversee if the Senate confirms him as the central bank’s next chairman.
With the appointment of the next Fed Chairman imminent, the WSJ investigated whether knowing his/her identity and policy stance would have led to successful investment decisions. Spoiler alert – it’s often paid to do the opposite.
When the NAR won the battle over keeping State and Local Tax deductions "as is", in the process denying the proposed GOP tax reform more than a trillion in revenue over the next ten years, it effectively doomed the most important provision of the republican tax bill set to be unveiled tomorrow: the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. Or rather the permanent reduction in the corporate tax rate.
One month ago, Deutsche Bank's unorthodox credit analyst, Jim Reid published a phenomenal report, one which just a few years ago would have been anathema in the hushed corridors of high finance as it dealt with two formerly taboo topics: is a financial crisis coming (yes), and what are the catalysts that have led the world to its current pre-catastrophic state, to which Reid had three answers: central banks, financial bubbles and record amounts of debt.
Despite the recent rise in oil prices, all is not well among the allies in the Gulf. The 'pegged-to-the-dollar' Bharaini Dinar has tumbled in the last few days as Bloomberg reports the nation has asked Gulf Arab allies for financial assistance as it seeks to replenish its foreign-exchange reserves and avert a currency devaluation - which could spread contagiously through MidEast markets.