All Eyes on Central Banks

All Eyes on Central Banks

While Central Banks have always featured heavily in the minds of forex traders, their actions have taken on a whole new significance of late. Financial reporters have also been generous in doling out space to stories about Central Banks, writing stories with headlines like “Central bankers add to equities’ momentum” and “Currency Traders Hold Fire, Await Central Banks.”

Traditionally, forex traders eyed Central Banks for one reason: interest rates. The theory was simple: currencies with higher interest rates tended to outperform in the short term. This trend was especially reliable in the years leading up to the housing bubble, as carry traders ensured that high-yielding currencies rose while low-yielding currencies stagnated or fell.

Even in the context of the credit crisis, traders have continued to monitor the rate setting activities of Central Banks. Interest rates in every industrialized country are currently locked at record low levels, but anticipation is already starting to build that the beginning of a tightening cycle is just around the corner. Current expectations are for the US to lead the way (first to lower, first to rise), followed by Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The Bank of England and European Central Bank are further away on the curve, while rate hikes are a remote possibility in Japan, a perennial favorite of carry traders.

Interest rates are now only a small part of the equation, however. Most Central Banks have implemented additional strategies, known variously as quantitative easing, asset purchases, liquidity programs, etc. The goal of all of these programs is to stimulate the money supply and stabilize financial markets, by injecting newly-minted money directly into capital markets. Traders initially focused on which Central Banks were involved in quantitative easing. After nearly every bank introduced some version, it quickly became a question of scope. In this respect, the Fed and the Bank of England are in first and second place, respectively. Now, traders are waiting to see not only when these programs will end, but also when they will be unwound. If there is a perception (and even worse, a reality) that some Central Banks are waiting too long to draw funds out of the market, this could foster (concerns of) inflation, and consequently, currency depreciation.

Finally, there is the issue of direct currency intervention. The Swiss National Bank became the first western bank to intervene on behalf of its currency. Its actions are directly responsible for holding the Swiss Franc down. The Bank of England meanwhile has used its quantitative easing program to influence the Pound, while the Banks of Korea and Brazil are buying Dollars on the spot market to depress their respective currencies. Paranoia is clearly running high, and some traders are apparently concerned that the Fed could be next. Just when you thought the surprises were over.

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Monetizing the Debt - Explanation For Non-Economists, Bankers and Other Laymen

As I see uncountable search engine inquiries with the phrase "monetizing the debt" landing at this blog I begin to realize there is a huge void of knowledge not only amongst interested economic laymen but also among employees from what were highly prestigious financial institutions only 2 years ago. Let me fill in with the executive briefing version.
In order to monetize the debt you need the following:

1. An economy in shatters that cannot produce enough taxes for the state
2. A parliament/congress/senate full of incompetent politicians eager to continue showering their constituencies with pork regardless of a nation's declining tax income
3. A people that has never received any macroeconomic education in their schools (otherwise they'd be shouldering the pitchforks by now)
4. A central bank with a transaction computer running under Unix (Windows would probably crash before any real economic damage could be done)
5. Commercial banks with executives searching the web for an easily understood explanation of the said term and no idea about monetary inflation either, but a perfect understanding of their contracts sweetened with lavish bonuses, no matter whether they remain prudent or crash the cart against the wall.


Now that we got our most important players together (starving retirees, widows and kids will only appear on the scene after the monetizing-the-debt-party has sunk the world into a depression) we take a punch bowl (literal), fill it with cheap credit and pass it around to everybody except the central bank computer (it has to work hard very soon.)
In contrast to all commodities unbacked fiat money is created at virtually no cost. This is most comfortable as it means the central bank computer can keep the party going.
All that needs to be done are a few keystrokes (maybe they already have macros for the task) and a screen wide enough to accommodate the ever growing number of zeroes after the $/€ sign.
So they enter a number, e.g. €60 billion as the ECB will do somewhen in the coming weeks, and wire this digitally created money to the commercial banks who in return hand over other serious looking papers that are called "securities" as collateral. In our fractional reserve banking system banks can use this central bank money to hand out ten times as much in loans. For 10 money units lent they have to hold one money unit as "reserve," just in case some investors want their deposits back.
It truly is a thrilling business: Put one money unit in the cash register (for which they currently pay 0.25% (Federal Reserve Notes) to 1% (Euros), let the borrowers come in and lend them 9 money units at anything between 5% (mortgages) to 12% (business loans.) You do the math yourself. It is virtually impossible not to turn a profit, weren't it for the rocket scientists with their Excel spreadsheets who think about new ways (derivatives!) on how to produce still more income that will be paid to them in form of a bonus. This is why the bankers drive Ferraris, but rarely their customers.
If you now wonder, what this has to do with "monetizing the debt," you are right. It doesn't. But it explains that banking would be such a surefire business, had they not hired mathematical whiz kids who came up with those derivatives Warren Buffett calls "weapons of financial mass destruction."
Ok, I will try to continue explaining the original subject in comprehensible words (which is a tough issue, I say after having spent already six hours on this post and far from over.)
So here we go again: As it didn't cost the central bank more than a few cents to create this money/credit but the unknowing hard working public will accept it as compensation for their labour, we are already a step further in the Ponzi scheme called fiat money creation.
Now the politicians have to act plainly ignorant (which should not pose a problem for most of them) and develop still more ambitious spending projects. As their Keynesian advisers had told them that a slowing economy is best countered with stimulating spending they scratch their heads, wondering where the money will come from. Their advisers had missed out on telling them that John Maynard Keynes had also recommended to build reserves during the good economic times.
Diabolic help arrives in the form of a delegation from the central bank that will offer a solution so easy that the politicians immediately jump on their bandwagon.
"If you issue a bond we will buy them for the amount you write on your piece of paper," whispers the pin-striped central banker into the finance minister's (treasury secretary) ear. The politician is jubilant now as this appears to be such an easy game with winners only.
So the Treasury prints a government bond and writes, let's say 100 billion on it.
As the economy has slowed for reasons that fill the long evening discussions of economists, without reaching a decisive answer, potential investors have no more money left to buy this bond.
US Treasuries: The Longest Running Ponzi Scheme In the World
So the central bank creates this wonderful stuff called MZM (Money Zero Maturity) or unbacked central bank fiat money and "buys" (hahaha) the bonds for itself. The state turns around, starts new "growth projects" and is comfortable as it watches the mere mortals without any macroeconomic education working hard in order to get a part of this funnily coloured money.
This game usually lasts for a few years before the broad public starts scratching its heads. They begin to see (or gut-feel) a recurring scheme: Public projects fill almost everybody's wallets but prices are ratcheting up too. That's called monetary inflation as the quickly rising amount of fiat money is spread over a slower growing amount of produced goods and services.
Politicians, eager to keep up economic growth in order to get reelected, will want to keep the game going and issue the next bond, confident that their central bank will - hahaha - "buy" the next issue again with the next round of freshly created fiat money.
This game could go on and on if there were no rational and prudent private bond buyers around. As in every Ponzi scheme the only disturbance arises once these prudent investors want their money back. As the state has no money it will beg the central bankers for the next shot in the arm. This usually works as the central bankers know they are in the end at the mercy of the politicians.
The end of the monetizing the debt game is always the same. This time it will be the Chinese who have amassed so many FRNs (look at a greenback: it nowhere says US dollar!) that they will cozy up to the idea of throwing all their FRN holdings on the market in exchange for some real assets like commodities because the FRNs are only backed by future tax income. But in a recession this tax income shrinks too and therefore this backing is worth less and less.
A truly diabolical circle and we haven't yet touched the next due issue, called hyper inflation...
NOTE: Nothing is more difficult than explaining high finance in simple terms. Please let me know in your comments whether this attempt (after busying myself with the subject since 2001) was useful to you. I will strive to improve as this is the single most important issue in the process of ruining a country.

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Austrian CB Will Sell Next to No Gold Until 2014 Austria's central bank OeNB will only sell minuscule amounts of gold in the next 5 years. OeNB execut

Austria's central bank OeNB will only sell minuscule amounts of gold in the next 5 years. OeNB executive Peter Zoellner said in an interview with Austrian Press Agency APA that Austria has no plans to sell any significant amount. Austria is a member of the 18-strong CBGSA. According to the OeNB executive Austria owns a hoard of 280 tonnes that is stored in Austria, Switzerland and the UK for easy market access.
A report in Boersenexpress says that Austria may have sold 37.5 million troy ounces in the frame of the last CBGSA. It is believed that Austria has not sold any gold since 2007, following a very conservative but nevertheless profitable investment strategy this way. Zoellner had always emphasized that gold plays a very important role in monetary policy.
Having blogged about Austria's silver shortage to the tune of €1.2 bilion the central bank is also a gold lender. OeNB did not indicate the size of gold leasing with Zoellner only saying that it regarded only very small sums which are underlaid with secured collateral.

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New Central Bank Gold Sales Agreement Cuts Back on Sales

The ECB today released the extension of its central bank gold sales agreement (CBGSA) for another 5 years while cutting back planned sales from 500 to 400 tons annually.
Maybe central banks have rediscovered that gold reserves are undoubtedly the best performing asset class on their balance sheets. The CBGSA or Washington Agreement was signed by 18 central banks, with the Federal Reserve being absent like in the decade before.
From the ECB release (HT Beans, Rice and Gold):
In the interest of clarifying their intentions with respect to their gold holdings the undersigned institutions make the following statement:

1. Gold remains an important element of global monetary reserves.
2. The gold sales already decided and to be decided by the undersigned institutions will be achieved through a concerted programme of sales over a period of five years, starting on 27 September 2009, immediately after the end of the previous agreement. Annual sales will not exceed 400 tonnes and total sales over this period will not exceed 2,000 tonnes.
3. The signatories recognize the intention of the IMF to sell 403 tonnes of gold and noted that such sales can be accommodated within the above ceilings.
4. This agreement will be reviewed after five years.

Bloomberg has a good write up on the matter, pointing out that the IMF has not signed the agreement, opening the possibility that the IMF's intent to sell 403 tons of its 3,217 ton hoard in one go to one country may become a reality.

“It’s positive for gold,” John Reade, an analyst at UBS AG in London, said by e-mail. Having the agreement “removes the small chance that European central banks would have dumped gold onto the market in an unconstrained manner.”

Central banks sold 73 percent less gold in the first half and full-year disposals may drop to the lowest since 1994, according to estimates from London-based researcher GFMS Ltd. The IMF wants to sell 403 tons from its reserves of 3,217 tons, the third-largest holding after the U.S. and Germany.

“The IMF has not signed and this leaves open the possibility that the Chinese, Russians, another central bank, could buy the 403 tons of IMF gold in one go,” Reade said.

China has the world’s sixth-largest holding at 1,054 tons and Russia is ranked 10th with almost 537 tons, World Gold Council data show...

The Swiss National Bank, one of the signatories to the new accord, in a statement today said it isn’t planning any gold sales in the near future, and that its gold is an important part of monetary reserves. Switzerland has 1,040 tons of gold, making it the seventh-largest holder.

Bullion sales under the current agreement total 140 tons in the current quota year, with France and the ECB leading sales, the World Gold Council said July 29. Central banks have sold about 3,867 tons since the first agreement, and failed to reach the allowed limit each year since 2005, its data show.

Central banks of China and Russia will probably be delighted to see their efforts to build up larger gold reserves helped by European central banks at low prices. China has overtaken India as the largest gold importer this year.
In the long run the massive sales of gold may be seen as the biggest fallacy of central banks next to their premature rate cuts, leaving them now out of ammo.

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