Monthly Archives: December 2008

Fed Loads Cutlery into the Cannons

In a ‘historic’ move, the Fed slashes the Fed Funds rate 75bp. The new rate is only 25bp. Basically, zero interest rates. My opinion … this is no big deal. See my interview on BNN on this news. However, the … Continue reading


The Freefall – A View from Main Street

Duke University/CFO Magazine survey 1,275 CFOs in the U.S., Europe and Asia was released today. I am the founding director of this quarterly survey and we have been conducting the survey for the past 51 quarters. The survey is unique … Continue reading


Brother, Can You Spare a Trillion?

The (in)famous Credit Default Swap (CDS) market provides the market’s best guess that an issuer will default on its debt. A low spread is good. A high spread is bad. Check this out. Campbell Soups’ (no relation!) CDS is less … Continue reading


The Helicopter Drop

Image courtesy of flickr/Michael M.

In case you haven’t noticed, we are in a deflation. Over the past four months, the U.S. CPI is running at negative 7% on an annualized basis. While it is true that much of that decrease is a direct result … Continue reading