August 15, 2019 Jeanette Garretty sat down to discuss financial market conditions with her colleague, Michael Zaninovich, after the close of US markets on Tuesday. The following is a transcript of their discussion.  JG:  Michael, the markets are having another bout of volatility here in August.  What do you see as the primary causes? MZ:…

August 7 2019 – A brief history of global currency markets must always address the various attempts by central governments to influence the exchange rate of their native currencies.    Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Switzerland have all had notable instances when they were publicly accused of aggressively trying to maintain or otherwise manage the exchange…

August 8 2019 – It’s not good when the online site for the Wall Street Journal features inch high headlines that resemble a supermarket tabloid.  Yuan Plunges!! Global Stocks Fall! Giant Asteroid Heads Toward Earth!! Okay, that last one wasn’t on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, but only because it was crowded…

June 7 2019 – Veteran observers of the Federal Reserve (aka “Fed Watchers”) know that the lodestar of monetary policy is the Fed’s unflinching commitment to its long-established, Congressionally-directed mandate: “ . . .to support three specific goals: maximum sustainable employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” www.federalreserve.gov There are many times when the…

May 16 2019 – In 1942, George Balanchine asked his friend Igor Stravinsky to compose a ballet for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants.  The “Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant” was performed in the Spring of 1942 – to great acclaim — by fifty elephants in pink tutus and fifty ballerinas. …

October 1 2018 – The federal budget deficit numbers released by the Treasury Department on October 15 were not exactly a surprise. Economists and analysts such as the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget have predicted for months that the 2018 fiscal year deficit would widen, potentially sharply, as a…