September is guaranteed to be packed with drama for the markets wall of worry. As if Syrian tensions weren't scary enough. Reuters outlines, not only will non-farm payrolls be highly important (will the Fed taper or no based on it) but German elections, Abe's 3rd phase of economic policy and of course, Obama's nomination for the next Fed Chairman. (yes I'm completely ignoring the debt ceiling as a concern because it's not)
A few months back, it was Janet Yellen everyone felt would replace good old Ben Bernanke as the next Federal Reserve Chairman however as September nears, it's Larry Summers who has pulled away from the pack as the 5/2 odds on favorite, at least according to PaddyPower.
Not being particularly interested in his resume bur rather what his views were on monetary policy and the like, I pulled these quotes from ft.com which should lend insight into Mr. Summer's beliefs on QE and Fed intervention. Clearly he's slightly more hawkish when it comes to the use of QE. I particularly liked his comment "if we have slow growth, we're not going to keep thinking 5.5% unemployment is normal". Thank you Larry for admitting what the rest of us already know. 7.5% is the new 5.5%. Of major interest is also Mr. Summers, while not thrilled about QE, does endorse the use of stimulus packages so spur spending and job growth.......which the market would love. I can already hear the cheers for infrastructure stimulus once again. So the guy's not all bad.
Just as Obama was left to clean up Bush's mess, now it appears Summers will be left to taper QE and dig out of the Fed's debt bubble. I don't think they could pay me enough to take the job but truly if they tap you to "serve your Country", can you actually say no? Please add any thoughts or comments you may have below. Enjoy.
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