So I have no insider knowledge on what the Argentinean government plans to do. And the White House is a mess; they don't have any knowledge on what they plan to do. But Larry Kudlow, the Director of the National Economic Council, said that the Treasury is deeply involved in a plan to dollarize the Argentinean economy (Guillermo Calvo, an influential conservative economist, has also spoken in favor of dollarization; see here in Spanish). [embedded content] He supports a Currency Board to...
Read More »OBR accused of damaging UK economy with productivity data
The following was published by David Thorpe on the FT’s Adviser blog, and can be found here: https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2017/11/30/obr-accused-of-damaging-uk-economy-with-productivity-data/ The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and others including the government are wrongly focusing on the UK’s weak productivity growth in a way that is harming the future economic prospects of the country, according to Ann Pettifor, director of Prime Economics. Ms Pettifor was before...
Read More »New home sales, PMI services, Mtg purchase apps, Tsy yield
Challenging to put a good spin on this one, but they gave it their best shot, as the wheels are coming off at every turn: New Home SalesHighlightsA downturn out West helped pull new homes sales down a steep 9.2 percent in January to a lower-than-expected annualized rate of 494,000. The level, however, is still respectable given that there is no revision to December which stands at a very solid 544,000. Sales in the West, which is a key region for the new home market, fell 32 percent in the...
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