The Brutal Failure of Turkey’s Monetary Experiment

brutal failure (Credit: Hands to the head by hernanpba on Flickr)

Brutal Failure Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “war of economic independence” has ended in a brutal failure. The president used his central bank to fight inflation with rate cuts and lost in spectacular fashion. This experiment with unconventional monetary policy severely devalued the Turkish lira (USD/TRY) and helped to generate massive inflationary pressures. The chart below … Read more

A Quick End to the Inflation Trade

quick end

My idea for a trade on the U.S. CPI (Consumer Price Index) report seemed like a great idea last month. Up to that point, the market experienced sharp swings based on the directional gap between the actual inflation readings and expected inflation. I used the Cleveland Federal Reserve’s “nowcasting” to generate an approximate trading model. … Read more

How to Measure A CPI Surprise and Its Impact on Stocks

surprise (Credit: Surprise!!! 4/365 by Benson Kua from Flickr)

Stock Market and Inflation: Understanding the Impact of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report Soon after the Federal Reserve started tightening monetary policy, the stock market started acting like the Fed will see evidence that inflation is actually not a problem and thus plateau or pivot on rate hikes. Yet, the Fed said no in … Read more

From Distraught to Overbought In A Flash – The Market Breadth

distraught to overbought (Credit: Shopping cart at Weis by SchuminWeb from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: The latest cryptocurrency scandal and implosion distracted the market (and me) from the upside potential of the October CPI (Consumer Price Index) report. Likely contagion, real and psychological, from crashing crypto prices helped drive distraught trading that created technical breakdowns across the major indices. U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday also apparently failed … Read more

CPI Shocker Unplugs Market’s Breakout – The Market Breadth

unplugs

Stock Market Commentary: Pricing pressures are apparently NOT easing just yet. The August CPI report turned “peak Fed” into “fear the Fed” all over again. Instead of falling, core inflation (CPI excluding food and energy) increased a whopping 0.6% month-over-month. This surge pushed the 12-month core inflation rate up from July’s 5.9% to August’s 6.3%. … Read more