The BoE’s Troubles Really Are All About The Leverage
When the Bank of England surprised the market with further open market operations earlier this week, The Blind Spot reached out to Helmholtz, a former sell-side pro with nearly 40 years worth of experience running rates desks at various investment banks. Helmholtz has agreed to give us his thoughts on the condition of pseudonymity, but […]
The Essential Willem Buiter on Whether Central Banks Can Go Bust
As mentioned in Spot Markets Live on Monday, lots of people are talking about this chart tracking Fed remittances to the Treasury. The striking collapse into negative territory since the summer is a function of the Fed finally having to materialise losses on the assets it purchased post-2008 as it unwinds QE. Does it mean […]
ALTIF Transcripts: The Kami-Kwasi Budget
It is hard to find a worse reaction to a British Budget than the one accorded Kwasi Kwarteng’s “special fiscal operation”. Neil and Jonathan talk to Howard Davies, former financial regulator and Treasury Mandarin about why it got such a huge raspberry, what Kwarteng can do now, and how his effort rates in the roll-call of past fiscal […]
Spot Markets Live Transcript: 10/10/22
Today’s Spot Markets live session is with Anjuli Davies, formerly of the Telegraph and Reuters, Davies’ last posting was as Senior City Editor for the Telegraph, moving there from her role as Acting Chief UK Financial Correspondent for Reuters. Comments addressing audience statements are in bold. Izabella Kaminska 10:58 …. Early birds in the house […]
What’s Going On With PayPal? (Updated)
*This piece has been updated to clarify that at the time of publication it was unclear if the problems the author was experiencing were unique to her. With the stock prices of both Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank under pressure, many in the financial field are becoming concerned the world could be facing a renewed […]
The Pathway to a “Right to Sell” Housing Intervention
What goes up must come down. But must everything that gets privatised eventually be renationalised? In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher undertook the great privatisation of Britain by selling off everything from British Gas to British Telecom and even British Airways. The move was accompanied by some simply inspired public promotion. Most memorable was the FOMO […]
In the Blind Spot (Space, Blackrock, Yen)
Business, Econ and Markets etc: Credit Suisse is reportedly weighing options to attract outside capital to pursue a spinoff advisory and investment banking business. But it is also selling a five-star Savoy Hotel in Zurich. Vanguard Group’s ETF business is closing in on Blackrock with $ 45bn of inflows in the third quarter. Ray Dalio […]
When Currencies (and Nations) Fall; The Case of Lebanon’s Bad Data
The dramatic plunge in sterling and UK gilt prices following Kwarteng’s unsupported tax cuts announcement drew many to radical conclusions. Whether a fatal undermining of Britain’s post-90s fiscal responsibility or displaying a counter-intuitively long-term perspective, the spectre of Black Wednesday’s governmental incompetence is echoing through Westminster’s halls. Perhaps it’s time for Britons to learn from […]
UAP Theories and the Sample Size Problem
Headlines filled with news of falling currencies and gilts have obscured other (other)worldly developments. We at The Blind Spot aim to redress these ills. On September 27, a US intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Manager for Aviation, posted a logo on its website that included a flying saucer. This tongue-in-cheek sketch was quickly erased once […]
Spot Markets Live Transcript: 05/10/22
Today’s Spot Markets live session is with Ben Harrington, the founder and editor of Betaville. Comments from Izabella and Ben that address audience questions have been put in bold. Izabella Kaminska 11:57 … Hello and welcome to Spot Markets Live The whirlwind tour of the markets. Exciting day today… as it’s the last chance to […]