US Federal Reserve

Via GoldSwitzerland.com,

Lars Schall interviewed Peter Boockvar. Peter is one of those rare and informed people in the investment space who really understands the history and role of Central Banks in general, the Federal Reserve Bank in particular, and their interactions with the financial industry on (government) policy. We are very pleased to have Peter Boockvar on board this month with his first Matterhorn Interview. We recommend a good listen below.

Every year it's the same: some legacy mainstream media mouthpiece muses on how great Obama's recovery would be... if only it wasn't for stingy US consumers refusing to spend like the drunken sailors of days gone by. Last June, it was the WSJ's Jon Hilsenrath who actually wrote a letter to American consumers, confused by their unwillingness to spend and explicitly accused them of being "stingy" even as the "Federal Reserve was counting" on them to spend, spend, spend. For those who have forgotten this absolute pearl, here it is again:

Dear American Consumer,

 

When last Friday's disappointing payrolls report hit, which saw just 160K jobs added in April, stocks initially tumbled only to surge as the case of a June rate hike was quickly taken off the table. Not only that, but according to Fed Fund futures as of this moment, the Fed won't hike until some time in early 2017. However, one look at the latest JOLTS data, admittedly Janet Yellen's favorite jobs indicator, paints a very different picture.

Remember how the Fed claimed it was embarking on a tightening cycle?

Well, the Fed failed to hike interest rates in January, March AND April despite the “data” hitting levels at which the Fed said it would hike. There is now talk of a potential hike in June… but the Fed futures indicate less than half of traders expect another hike before February 2017.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Donald Trump says a lot of whacko things, and his recent wild pitches about defaulting on the national debt and replacing Yellen because she is not a Republican sound as if they were coming right out of his wild man wheelhouse. Certainly these statements have gotten mainstream financial journalists and editorial writers in high dudgeon.

Said the NYT editorial page about Trump’s observation that if things got bad enough he’d seek to negotiate “discounts” on Uncle Sam’s towering debt,