Monday 18 October 2010

Reckless easing

While the Federal Reserve prepares to launch QE2, John Hussman, in his latest article, "The Recklessness of Quantitative Easing", says that such a move will bring few benefits.

On the demand side, it is apparent that the U.S. is presently in something of a liquidity trap. Interest rates are already low enough that variations in their level are not the primary drivers of loan demand...

On the supply side, the objective of quantitative easing is to increase the amount of lendable reserves in the banking system. Again, however, this is not a constraint that is binding. The liquidity to make new loans is already present. U.S. Commercial banks already hold $1.066 trillion of reserves with the Fed, and another $1.626 trillion in Treasury and agency securities...

Despite the probable lack of measureable benefits, however, further QE poses significant risks. Specifically, it has triggered a steep decline in the exchange value of the U.S. dollar, and threatens a destabilization of international economic activity, a loss of confidence, and the creation of a "boom-bust" cycle threatening to choke off any economic recovery that does emerge.

For investors, he says:

My impression is that much or all of the potential upside of quantitative easing is already fully reflected in stock, bond and commodities markets. Investors now rely not only on QE itself, but also on its success. This is a dangerous place to be...

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