The staff of the European Central Bank has now released the new macro-economic projections for the Eurozone and whilst the introduction sounds optimistic about an ever-increasing GDP and a relatively stable GDP growth rate, reading between the lines suggests we could see an extended Quantitative Easing program.
Global stocks backed off from all time highs, and S&P futures are unchanged ahead of the much anticipated US CPI report, which is expected to break a streak of five consecutive misses, while eyeing disappointing overnight Chinese economic data which missed across the board. European stocks and Asian markets were also modestly in the red, with the relentless global rally to new daily record highs taking a breather amid some concerns China's economy is rolling over, which weighed on commodities including base metals, which in turned dragged down mining stocks.
Authored by Ralf Zimmermann, Head of Equity Strategy at Bankhaus Lampe KG,
Let’s forget for ten minutes the upcoming Q3 reports (supportive for stocks), US policy risks (probably the biggest medium-term risk for stock markets), hurricane-related diversions and North Korean rumblings - and turn to a pretty fundamental issue, most likely the biggest one in contemporary capital markets: Central bank interventions in and manipulation of capital markets.
Authored by 720Global's Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
Recently on our Twitter feed, @michaellebowitz, we introduced the hashtag #fedgibberish.
Austria, a country which itself is less than 100 years old, made European history today when it launched a 100-year government bond: the first such deal to be sold into eurozone public markets. While Austria is not the first nation to sell 100 year bonds - last year Ireland and Belgium both sold privately-placed century-long bonds - while Austria itself sold a 70 year bond, Austria’s planned 100-year bond is unique in that it would be the first such debt sold directly into public markets in the eurozone according to the WSJ.