Asking the Right Questions
QE to infinity!
Memories of 2008… On Wednesday the volatility in financial markets had many recounting their memories of 2008. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility and termed the ‘fear index’, spiked to 30.88, up from 12.03 on September…
US Fed Minutes: concern over stronger dollar
The minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting of September 16-17th, added to volatility last week as financial markets initially bounced on a more dovish tone on the outlook for interest rates. However, after poor German data and the IMF downgrade of the…
US Federal Reserve Meeting: Key Takeaways
FOMC Statement Wording. Janet Yellen kept markets sweet by maintaining the wording used in her previous statement, “significant under-utilization” to describe the labour market and “considerable time” for the length of the period after the asset purchase program ends before the first rate hike….
Janet Yellen: No Bubble, “In Aggregate”
On the central bank front, US Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress offered few surprises in terms of the outlook for monetary policy. The overriding message is that the Fed will continue to support the recovery as “too many Americans…
Equity Markets: Valuation is in the Eye of the Beholder
With many of the major equity indices at or near record highs it is natural to ask whether equity markets are overvalued. First of all valuations differ dramatically by geographical region and second, one’s estimate of fair valuation is to a large degree subjective….
