Simon Kennedy

Central Bankers Prisoner of Policy Guidance: Cutting Research

bloomberg.com — Central banks should be careful what they say about the future if they want flexibility to set monetary policy. Policy makers can become "constrained" when they inform investors about the likely direction of interest rates, according to economists Nikola Mirkov of the University of St. Gallen and Norges Bank's Gisle James Natvik.

Pimco Pares Risk on View Monetary Easing Distorts Global Markets

bloomberg.com — Pacific Investment Management Co., home to the world's biggest fixed-income fund, is shying away from risky assets as it sees a growing disconnect between the performances of financial markets and the global economy.

U.S. Animal Spirit Since ’07 Proves Superior to EU Slump

bloomberg.com — America's aggressive strategy for tackling its financial and economic ills is working better than Europe's go-slow approach -- and investors are taking notice. Even amid the weakest recovery in modern history, the U.S. economy is outperforming the euro area and soon may break higher. More than a year after U.S.

Europe Seeks Fiscal Realism as Slump Prompts U.S. Pressure

bloomberg.com — European policy makers expressed a willingness to consider new ways to revive their ailing economy as they confronted fresh U.S. pressure to take action. The bloc's finance ministers and central bankers left weekend talks of the Group of Seven signaling that they're poised to scale back austerity, are open to increased monetary aid and looking to unfreeze bank lending.

Sobel Plays Bad Cop to Treasury’s Lew as G-7 Debates Austerity

businessweek.com — The world's top finance officials meeting last month were trying to commit jointly to reducing debt until Mark Sobel, a mid-level U.S. Treasury official who rarely speaks in public, led the charge to kill the effort.

Central Banks Keep Easing After 511 Cuts Fail to Spur Economies

bloomberg.com — Global central bankers are poised to ease monetary policy even further after a wave of interest-rate cuts from India to Poland. As Group of Seven finance chiefs gather in the U.K. tomorrow, economists at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG are among those predicting policy makers will keep deploying stimulus amid weak global growth, slowing inflation and the need to thwart currency gains.

Fed in 2008 Showed Panic of 1907 Was Excessive: Cutting Research

bloomberg.com — The Federal Reserve has learned how to lessen economic slumps as it turns 100 years old. An analysis by San Francisco Fed economists Early Elias and Oscar Jorda found that if there had been a central bank during the financial panic of 1907 to lower interest rates as much as the Fed did during the 2008 turmoil, the U.S.

Schaeuble Signals Backing for Easier Euro Austerity as G-7 Meets

bloomberg.com — German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble signaled support for an easing of Europe 's austerity drive as he prepared to face pressure from global counterparts to do more to spur growth. On the eve of a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers in the U.K., Schaeuble told a conference in London there's "enough room to maneuver" for euro-area governments to respond to the currency bloc's recession.