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Time to take away the punch bowl… à la Berset

In July 2008, the ECB raised its key rate by 25bps, arguing that inflation had become the top concern of European citizens as oil prices were spiking. Two months later, Lehman Brothers collapsed and the world plunged into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The ECB and its infamous President, Jean-Claude Trichet, did […]

You don’t turn a dolphin into a shark…

Last week’s rate decisions were really a story about tone, perception and thus credibility, as much as policy. The Fed delivered the hawkish decision markets had been braced for and then some: a 25bp hike to 3.75%–4.00%, its first increase since July 2023, passed by a unanimous 12-0 vote, a decision that came unanimously according […]

Playing like a (economic) superpower

I’m on holiday this week and hadn’t planned on writing anything this morning. But between Cagliari’s start to the season and what’s about to happen at the Fed (and the BoJ, for that matter), the circumstances struck me as exceptional enough to warrant a few lines anyway. As I write this, interest rates aren’t the […]

The Energy Sword of Damocles

Equities and credit are trading near their highs, but above that apparent calm hangs at least one genuinely uncomfortable thread: energy prices. The trigger isn’t hypothetical as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively paralyzed since end of February, with daily tankers crossings down from about 60 to basically none, Gulf crude exports divided by […]

Is the west really running out of missiles?

Major US media reports are warning of a depletion of the country’s military stockpile, especially advanced defensive interceptors and long-range precision missiles, following the prolonged conflict with Iran. Ukraine, for its part, is suffering large-scale Russian aerial attacks on an almost daily basis and a lack of high-end interceptors leaves it highly vulnerable to ballistic […]

Too much of a good thing

Sometimes the scoreline lies. Yesterday’s Serie A clash between Cagliari and Inter ended in a narrow, almost respectable 1-0 defeat for my beloved team. The kind of result that, taken at face value, suggests a tight, competitive affair. Dig into the underlying numbers, however, and a far less flattering picture emerges: 31 shots, 7 on […]

Cycles that don’t come home

Last week, in Sticky Rates Despite Slippery Growth, we flagged a puzzle: US data was turning noticeably gentler (weak July payrolls print, in-line and reassuring CPI, and a surprise drop in July retail sales), yet the 10y Treasury yield refused to budge from its highs. If anything, the picture has grown more stubborn since. The […]