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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (111265)	3/16/2015 2:22:14 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218898

You can say the Republican Party is full of shit when they describe the majority of Federal spending as simply "a socialist wealth transfer" - that's Medicare and Social Security they're talking about. Those two entitlement programs already make up far more than half of Federal Spending. They transfer tax money from hard-working Americans to retired Americans most of whom no longer count as participating in the Labor Force Participation Rate, whose decline has so alarmed Fox News and Republicans. You can mock the Tea Party and Republicans when they call Medicare and Social Security "The Entitlement Programs" -- but that doesn't make them agree with you.

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (111265)	3/17/2015 8:52:08 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 218898

Surging dollar complicates Fed rate-hike plans FED deliberations could center on the dollar’s growing strength at the Fed’s two-day meeting which kicks off today. FED deliberations on interest rates, normally focused on jobs and inflation, could center on the dollar’s growing strength at the Fed’s two-day meeting which kicks off today. The main storyline at the March Federal Reserve meeting which ends tomorrow is that the central bank is expected to remove the word “patient” from their statement on rates, which will open the door to a rate hike as early as June. And at a post-meeting press conference, Fed chair Janet Yellen is expected to nudge the market ever closer to the first rate increase since 2006. Rates have been pegged around zero since late 2008, and have been cited as a key driver of the 6-year-old bull market in stocks. And while Yellen often cites employment and inflation as key factors in the Fed’s decision-making on the timing of rate hikes, this meeting’s main storyline could be the surging dollar, says Sinh Ly, managing director, at Choice Investment Management. The dollar has been surging against the euro this year, jumping as much as 13%, a trend change that has hurt the profit outlook for U.S. multinationals and is akin to monetary tightening, Wall Street pros say. And a Fed rate hike will only strengthen the dollar further, exacerbating the negative impact of a stronger dollar. “What is at question is the impact on the dollar if the Fed raises rates,” Ly wrote in a client note. “The markets really cannot withstand the continued dollar strength. A strong dollar is not something the Fed wants, as it slows the rate of nominal GDP, (or economic growth). Basically, GDP is being reallocated from the U.S. to Europe and Japan, (two countries that are aggressively easing monetary policy).” Yellen must use her words carefully in the press conference to reassure markets that dollar strength is emerging as a key plank in their deliberations. “Yellen does well at press conferences, and we would expect the markets to be put at ease that whatever the Fed does will be in moderation,” Ly wrote. “What the market wants to hear is that the Fed is perhaps less concerned about inflation long term, due to the increase in the dollar, and that rates can stay lower for longer.”