Category Archive: 5.) Alhambra Investments

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Proposed Negative Rates Really Expose The Bond Market’s Appreciation For What Is Nothing More Than Magic Number Theory

2019-05-23

By far, the biggest problem in Economics is that it has no sense of itself. There are no self-correction mechanisms embedded within the discipline to make it disciplined. Without having any objective goals from which to measure, the goal is itself. Nobel Prize winning economist Ronald Coase talked about this deficiency in his Nobel Lecture:

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Japan’s Surprise Positive Is A Huge Minus

2019-05-21

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-21

Preliminary estimates show that Japanese GDP surprised to the upside by a significant amount. According to Japan’s Cabinet Office, Real GDP expanded by 0.5% (seasonally-adjusted) in the first quarter of 2019 from the last quarter of 2018. That’s an annual rate of +2.1%. Most analysts had been expecting around a 0.2% contraction, which would’ve been the third quarterly minus out of the last five.

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Global Doves Expire: Fed Pause Fizzles (US Retail Sales)

2019-05-18

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-18

Before the stock market’s slide beginning in early October, for most people they heard the economy was booming, the labor market was unbelievably good, an inflationary breakout just over the horizon. Jay Powell did as much as anyone to foster this belief, chief caretaker to the narrative. He and his fellow central bankers couldn’t use the word “strong” enough.

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Effective Recession First In Japan?

2019-05-16

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-16

For a lot of people, a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP. This is called the technical definition in the mainstream and financial media. While this specific pattern can indicate a change in the business cycle, it’s really only one narrow case. Recessions are not just tied to GDP. In the US, the Economists who make the determination (the NBER) will tell you recessions aren’t always so straightforward.

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Jeffrey P. Snider of Alhambra Investments speaks on impact of tariff trade | EXCLUSIVE

2019-05-14

by Jeffrey P. Snider

Alhambra Investments’ Head of Global Research, Jeffrey Snider speaks to ET NOW. He talks about the US-China trade war and its impact on emerging markets, exchanges stock portfolios in India, bond market pricing. He said that he sees significant market risk in equities and that the economic uncertainties will continue. He also said that US …

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Trade Wars Have Arrived, But It’s Trade Winter That Hurts

2019-05-13

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-13

U.S. Imports from China, Jan 1989 - 2019

There is truth to the trade war. That’s a big problem because it’s not the only problem. It isn’t even the main one. Given that, it’s easy to look at tariffs and see all our current ills in them. The Census Bureau reports today that the trade wars have definitely arrived. In March 2019, US imports from China plummeted by nearly 19% year-over-year.

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China’s Export Story Is Everyone’s Economic Base Case

2019-05-10

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-10

The first time the global economy was all set to boom, officials were at least more cautious. Chastened by years of setbacks and false dawns, in early 2014 they were encouraged nonetheless. The US was on the precipice of a boom (the first time), it was said, and though Europe was struggling it was positive with a more aggressive ECB emerging.

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What’s Germany’s GDP Without Factories

2019-05-09

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-09

It was a startling statement for the time. Mario Draghi had only been on the job as President of the European Central Bank for a few months by then, taking over for the hapless Jean Claude-Trichet who was unceremoniously retired at the end of October 2011 amidst “unexpected” chaos and turmoil. It was Trichet who contributed much to the tumult, having idiotically raised rates (twice) during 2011 even as warning signs of crisis and economic weakness...

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What Tokyo Eurodollar Redistribution Really Means For ‘Green Shoots’

2019-05-02

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-05-02

Last April, monetary officials in Japan were publicly contemplating ending asset purchases under QQE. This April, they are more quietly wondering what other financial assets they might have to buy just to keep it all going a little longer. I’d suggest something like the clouds passing over the islands or the ocean water surrounding them. Nobody would notice either way and it would be equally as effective.

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Globally Synchronized…

2019-04-29

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-29

The economic sickness is predictably spreading. While unexpected in most of the world which still, somehow, depends on central banking forecasts, it really has been almost inevitable. From the very start, just the utterance of the word “decoupling” was the kiss of death.

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Durably Sideways

2019-04-28

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-28

Next month, in the durable goods series, the Census Bureau will release the results of its annual benchmark changes. In May 2019, the agency will revise the seasonal adjustments going back to January 2002. Unadjusted data will not be, well, further adjusted.

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The Eurodollar, Unfortunately, Is What Is Rebalancing China’s Services Economy

2019-04-24

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-24

If the “equation” CNY DOWN = BAD is valid, and it is, then what drives CNY downward in the first place? In conventional Economics, authorities command the currency to affect the level of exports. In reality, that’s not at all how it works. The eurodollar system of shadow money is almost purely calculated risk versus return.

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COT Blue: Distinct Lack of Green But A Lot That’s Gold

2019-04-24

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-24

Gold, in my worldview, can be a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition. If it goes up, that’s fear. Nothing good. If it goes down, that’s collateral. In many ways, worse. Either way, it is only bad, right? Not always. There are times when rising gold signals inflation, more properly reflation perceptions. Determining which is which is the real challenge.

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Jeff Snider: Eurodollar System Overview

2019-04-19

by Jeffrey P. Snider

Erik Townsend and Patrick Ceresna welcome Jeff Snider to MacroVoices. Erik and Jeff discuss the history of Eurodollar, Eurodollar as global reserve currency, and how the global economy and the global financial system depend on the Eurodollar system. They also discuss the breakdown of Eurodollar system, the Great Global Monetary Crisis and the effect the Eurodollar squeeze has on …

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China’s Blowout IP, Frugal Stimulus, and Sinking Capex

2019-04-19

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-19

It had been 55 months, nearly five years since China’s vast and troubled industrial sector had seen growth better than 8%. Not since the first sparks of the rising dollar, Euro$ #3’s worst, had Industrial Production been better than that mark. What used to be a floor had seemingly become an unbreakable ceiling over this past half a decade. According to Chinese estimates, IP in March 2019 was 8.5% more than it was in March 2018. That was far more...

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Green Shoot or Domestic Stall?

2019-04-17

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-17

U.S. Industrial Production, SA 2007-2019

According to revised figures, things were really looking up for US industry. For the month of April 2018, the Federal Reserve’s Diffusion Index (3-month) for Industrial Production hit 68.2. Like a lot of other sentiment indicators, this was the highest in so long it had to be something. For this particular index, it hadn’t seen better than 68 since way back in March 2010, back when the economy looked briefly like it might actually recover.

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Coloring One Green Shoot

2019-04-16

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-16

China’s Passenger Car Association reported last week that retail sales of various vehicles totaled 1.78 million units in March 2019. The total was 12% less than the number of automobiles sold in March 2018. This matches the government’s data, both sets very clear as to when Chinese economic struggles accelerated: May 2018.

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Monthly Macro Chart Review – April 2019 (VIDEO)

2019-04-13

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2019-04-13

Alhambra CEO Joe Calhoun discusses the charts from the past month and what they indicate.

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Why 2011

2019-04-12

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2019-04-12

The eurodollar era saw not one but two credit bubbles. The first has been studied to death, though almost always getting it wrong. The Great Financial Crisis has been laid at the doorstep of subprime, a bunch of greedy Wall Street bankers insufficiently regulated to have not known any better. That was just a symptom of the first. The housing bubble itself was more than housing.

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Monthly Macro Chart Review: April 2019

2019-04-09

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2019-04-09

The economic data reported over the last month managed to confirm both that the economy is slowing and that there seems little reason to fear recession at this point. The slowdown is mostly a manufacturing affair – and some of that is actually a fracking slowdown – but consumption has also slowed.

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