Bank of Canada Has More Assets Than Ever

June 24, 2014 Leave a comment

The Bank of Canada’s balance sheet is now bigger than ever. The central bank grows fat on the debts created by Ottawa.

boc may14

The rate of growth had slowed a bit in recent months, but the latest data tells us that Governor Poloz really doesn’t know what to do other than create new money and buy stuff. This is exasperating the business cycle and driving down the price of the Canadian dollar.

The Bank of Canada’s assets are 99% Canadian government bills and bonds. Buying more of these bids up their prices and pushes interest rates lower than they would be otherwise.

The newly created money enters the capital markets, and begins distorting the market’s allocation of resources. This is the cause of business cycles.

Interestingly, rates are so low in Canada that capital is nearly free, but the Eastern economy is still a mess. According to Keynesianism, the entire country should be on the verge of Utopia.

The aggressive monetary policy was kicked off by Carney, shortly after selling off the Bank’s emergency acquisitions of the financial crisis. Poloz is continuing this policy. He is trying to juice the Canadian economy by driving down the value of the Canadian dollar, thereby increasing exports, as he told us in his April 16 rate decision. This kind of short-sighted and special-interest-serving policy is to be expected from central bankers, particularly ones who worked Export Development Canada for more than a decade, like Poloz.

Hilariously, a few days ago the mainstream media churned out a puff piece about how Poloz is the “king” of central bankers and other central bankers want to be like him. The article presents Poloz as a really cool dude because when he says something, the Canadian dollar’s value is more greatly affected than the value of other currencies when their central bankers talk.

It never seems to occur to anyone that this is a horrible, horrible thing. It shows that the dollar is dangerously sensitive to the whims of central bankers, and that is not healthy for an economy. Uncertainty due to regulatory hazard is destructive to economic opportunity.

But of course, words are one thing, and the biggest impact on the economy emerges from the BoC’s actions — i.e. printing money. And as we can see, the Bank of Canada still going full steam ahead with that plan.

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Is the Taper a Big Lie?

April 5, 2014 1 Comment

(NOTE TO READER: There was a considerable time lag between the beginning of the QE3 taper’s declared beginning and when it actually started. This article was written during the lag, suggesting that the taper was all hype and no reality. Since then, the taper did become real and QE3 ended.)

The much-talked-about taper could be nothing more than a big joke. Where is the statistical evidence of the taper?

Let’s look at the last 10 years of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet.

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Here you can see all three QEs laid out nicely.

Let’s “zoom in” and look at just the last year.

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The rate of growth briefly slowed then picked right back up. Other purchases appear to be offsetting the taper, at least so far. On net, no taper. Watch what they do, don’t fret too much over what they say (central bankers lie all the time).

Meanwhile, despite media reports and promises from European central bankers that they will inflate to prevent recession, the ECB is engaged in a deflationary policy, and has been for nearly a year.

Sometimes the official central bank statistics don’t match their words.

The Fed has been saying it will not let interest rates rise, yet at the same time it will slow its rate of purchasing assets. I don’t know how that is supposed to work, since regardless of the Federal Funds target rate, the market sets the real Federal Funds rate. Yet it almost makes sense if you assume while they might buy less crap via QE3, they will balance that with more purchases of different crap.

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Bank of Canada’s Balance Sheet Continues to Swell

October 2, 2013 Leave a comment

The Bank of Canada’s balance sheet shed about a billion dollars in August, but remains at record high levels.

Governor Poloz, like everyone else, is watching the Fed. With no taper in September (as we predicted), he is unlikely to do much to change BoC policy. To keep the Canadian dollar from appreciating too greatly against the US dollar, the BoC must maintain a level of quantitative easing consistent with the Fed’s own. Poloz is a mercantilist, and is therefore opposed to having a strong Canadian currency.

BoC as of October

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Capital Is Flowing Out of the U.S. Faster Than Ever

August 21, 2013 Leave a comment

The US Treasury Department reports that Japan and China — the biggest holders of America’s debt by far — has dumped $40.8 billion in US bonds.

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Interestingly, government bonds were not the only products being sold. Foreigners sold:

  • $5.2 billion in Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Ginnie Mae bonds.
  • $5 billion in corporate bonds
  • $116 million in bonds composed of packaged US mortgages.

And they also sold $26.8 billion in US stocks.

All counted, this withdrawal of foreign capital is greater than during the 2008 crisis. It is greater than any time in history.

The Fed’s QE3 program, which creates $85 billion per month to suppress interest rates, is rapidly losing its effectiveness.

It prompts the worrying question: How big is QE4 going to be?

— Read more at Money and Markets —

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