I wasn’t sure of the value of QE3 when it was introduced in September of 2012. In retrospect, the low-water mark for the yield on the ten-year treasury occurred in July, 2012, at 1.404%. Rates were already low and did not go any lower even as QE3 was introduced. Besides providing a slight overbid to…
Tag: the fed
Session 53–Hyper-Low Interest Rates: Was It QE Or Just Plain Fear?
There is a very strong consensus on Wall Street and in the media that our long run of super-low interest rates is the singular result of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke and Quantitative Easing. As an example, Barron’s takes the Fed and Ben Bernanke to task again this week in a piece called “Ben’s Ultimate…
Session 45–“Earnings Season”
Before venturing into one of my favorite topics, “Earnings Season”, I thought it might be useful to explain my reason for creating kortsessions.com. I started my blog to offer a sensible counterpoint to the 24/7 media/ political/ punditry cycle and its continuous barrage of bad news, misinformation and fear mongering. Most of this is noise, doing…
Session 43–The Double Whammy! China Implodes and QE Is Finite #%#&@.
In the last four trading days the “Double Whammy”, China worries and the QE taper, have revitalized the media and market volatility. Bad news is good news for the folks at Barron’s and CNBC. The market has tanked (S & P now down almost 6% from the May all-time high), the result of the aftershock…
Session 42–Taper Mania, Taper Tip-Off…Whatever…
Taper Mania, Taper Tip-Off, whatever you chose to call it, the obsession with this issue continues to rattle the market. Last I saw, the 10-year treasury was trading around a 2.35% yield in after-hours trading (up from around a 2.18% yield earlier in the day). Volatility has come to the treasury market. And all Bernanke…
Session 29–Central Banks Can Buy Equities!! You learn something new every day.
I have been around this business for a long time. In my entire career I have never heard of any central bank buying stocks. Now, I did hear some wag on one of the political / entertainment shows a month or two ago asserting that the reason our stock market had done so well was…
Session 23—“Fed Minutes Show Sharp Division Over ‘QE’ Duration”
Remember the “Fed Bolt From Hell” from sessions 15 and 18? Well, the headline above would make one think that “FBFH” might be a lot closer than we think. I mean this is pretty dire stuff as it gives the impression that maybe a real movement toward a policy shift was at hand (or at…