5UX

Has Kerry Gained An Upper Hand Over Neocon Nuland?

On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the main operations department of the Russian General Staff, gave reporters an update on Moscow’s efforts to squeeze ISIS by dismantling the group’s illicit oil trade from the air. 

“The intensity of air strikes at Islamic State and other terrorist targets has been increased, Rudskoy told reporters, adding that The Kremlin’s warplanes have destroyed six oil production facilities and seven truck convoys in the past three days alone. 

While The Fed is confidently rising rates, the market is signalling its belief that this is a policy error. Not only are longer-dated bond yields lower but short-term money-market expectations for January now see a higher chance of a rate-cut, than a rate-hike.

Well, liftoff has officially begun. 

Assuming 25 bps doesn't tip EM into crisis and/or trigger some kind of dramatic, unforeseen meltdown elsewhere, the Fed is about to embark on the first rate hike cycle in over a decade. 

Of course the hike itself isn't what's interesting - virtually no one thought the Fed would fold again, even as China did its best to create a bit of pre-Yellen drama by stirring up the deval fears with a nod to a new trade-weighted index for the yuan.