by Bill | Oct 5, 2013 | Press, US Economy
Variant Perception’s Claus Vistesen was on CNBC last week to discuss the market consequences of the government shutdown in the...
by Bill | Sep 25, 2013 | Featured, US Economy
One of the most interesting developments across speculative positioning in the past weeks has been the reversal in net positioning in US stock futures. On an unsmoothed basis speculators most recently turned net short S&P 500 futures for the first time since...
by Bill | Sep 4, 2013 | Featured, US Economy
In our latest thematic report, we look at how the unconventional monetary policies of the Fed et al are having distortionary effects on asset markets and increasing their inherent instability. In the classic film The Italian Job, Michael Caine berates his motley crew...
by Bill | Aug 21, 2013 | Global Economy, US Economy
The headline above is not a mistake; aggregate debt to GDP is now growing again in the US . This is evident if we look at the broadest measure of credit in the US which rose to a new high of $57 trillion USD in the first quarter of 2013. As a share of nominal GDP this...
by Bill | Jul 16, 2013 | Featured, Tactical, US Economy
Most of the talk on US equities is still centered around whether and when the Fed will start scaling back its asset purchases (let alone start raising rates). The point here is of course that if the Fed decides to remove the punchbowl, equities will take a dim view....
by Bill | Jul 2, 2013 | Featured, Global Economy, Monetary Policy, US Economy
No-one ever said that investing was easy, but when textbook correlations start to break down it can be outright painful. Such of course has been the environment in recent couple of months with stocks and bonds falling in unison. It won’t last forever, but it may...
by Bill | Jun 6, 2013 | Featured, US Economy
The underlying outlook for inflation in the US continues to point to upside risks in the coming years. Endless discussions between hyperinflationists and deflationists are boring and unproductive. We prefer to look at the data and the data is pretty clear. The...
by Bill | May 21, 2013 | Featured, Global Economy, US Economy
The developed world remains mired in the debt crisis that roiled the global economy in 2008. Growth is low, and deleveraging is an ongoing process. However, the response by policymakers has been strong, and free money is leading to bubbles, the misallocation of...
by Bill | May 13, 2013 | Featured, Monetary Policy, US Economy
Employment in the US is closely watched, especially as the Fed has marked it out as an important factor in how it will judge its stance in monetary policy. Payrolls have improved and the unemployment rate has declined, but structural issues stubbornly remain. The...
