Liaquat Ahmed’s “Lords of Finance” tells the story of the American, British, French and German central bankers trying to hold the world together in the midst of the great depression. The most striking story in the book is the saga of Germany’s post World War I struggles to pay reparations. The German government printed trillions […]

After three years of an impeccable but relatively untested performance as President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi has finally backed himself into an inescapable corner. Global markets are now hinged on what over 90% of banks polled say is a imminent move to buy massive amounts of sovereign Eurozone bonds that will come […]

A broad set of manufacturing surveys has raised alarm that the US economy may be experiencing a slowdown related to the sharp decline in oil prices. In the last three weeks nearly every regional and national manufacturing PMI has missed estimates, along with a core durable goods orders that was much lower than expected. Various […]