Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Fed seen signaling no rush to exit

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-seen-signaling-no-rush-to-rb-1013634684.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

By Mark Felsenthal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve kicked off a two-day meeting on Tuesday that is expected to conclude with a signal that it is in no hurry to scale back its massive support for the economic recovery.
The U.S. central bank, which began meeting at 10:30 a.m. EDT, is expected to use a post-meeting statement to confirm that it will complete its $600 billion bond-buying program by the end of June and renew its commitment to maintain rock-bottom borrowing costs for "an extended period."
The Fed launched the bond-buying program, dubbed QE2 because it is the second round of so-called quantitative easing of monetary policy, in November to support a flagging recovery. The Fed had already cut interest rates to near zero in December 2008 and bought $1.4 trillion in longer-term securities to pull the economy out of recession and spur growth.
Fed officials say the latest program has helped buoy growth and point to a stepped up pace of hiring by businesses and stock market gains as evidence. However, the program has stirred harsh criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and international finance officials who fault it for fueling inflation.
"We see no chance of an expansion of the program at this time, as the political backlash following the announcement of 'QE2' was significant, and no one on the (Fed) has publicly made the case for an expansion," Goldman Sachs economist Andrew Tilton wrote in a note to clients. "Likewise we see essentially no chance that the (Fed) will end the program early."

Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Burma Monitor

http://burmamonitor.blogspot.com/2011/04/library-and-full-moon-murders.html

http://starting-points.blogspot.com/

John McDougall

Myanmar set to sign contracts with foreign firms for oil and gas exploration, state media say

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/myanmar-set-to-sign-contracts-with-foreign-firms-for-oil-and-gas-exploration-state-media-say/2011/04/23/AFNyBXVE_print.html

By Associated Press, Saturday, April 23, 11:11 AM

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s state oil firm is set to sign contracts with companies from China, Singapore and South Korea for oil and gas exploration, state media reported Saturday.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper noted the upcoming deals in a report on a “special projects implementation meeting” headed by President Thein Sein on Friday in the capital, Naypyitaw. The report cited Energy Minister Than Htay saying Myanmar will cooperate with foreign companies for oil and gas exploration.
The newspaper said Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise will sign contracts with China’s North Petro-Chem Corporation Ltd for onshore oil and gas exploration.
It will also sign agreements with Korea-Myanmar Development Co. Ltd and Brilliant Oil Corporation Pte Ltd of Singapore for oil and gas exploration offshore in northwestern Rakhine state and the Tanintharyi region in southeastern Myanmar.
In addition, agreements will be signed with Singapore’s SNOG Pte. Ltd and UPR Pte. Ltd for the mining of shale in eastern Karen state, the report said.
The report did not say when the contracts would be signed or when work on any of the projects would start.
Natural gas is Myanmar’s largest export earner. Myanmar has huge gas reserves and is conducting oil and gas exploration with local and foreign companies in 49 onshore blocks and 26 offshore blocks.

The Future of Myanmar Without Sanctions

The Future of Myanmar Without Sanctions

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/04/the-future-of-myanmar-without-sanctions/
There is a lot of conjecture lately about the efficacy of lifting Western imposed economic sanctions and engaging with the Burmese Junta. Especially relevant in many conversations is whether or not Aung San Suu Kyi should have any effect on the matter. The bigger question seems to be about the direction of action she will take, along with the National League for Democracy (NLD). At the heart of the problem is a military led government who has thumbed its nose at the West for decades. Conventional wisdom indicates that it will continue to do so no matter what Aung San Suu Kyi does.
The western media likes to play up the idea that Myanmar’s government is more brutal and disgusting than any other on earth except for Iran. The ironic truth with both Myanmar and Iran is that the people of both nations love everything about the West but their governments have chosen not to fall under the influence of economic colonization of the World Bank, IMF, and all of the other Western economic schemes that renders poor nations in debt to the West, thereby opening their lands for “development” and “civil society” as western corporations plunder every available natural resources at bargain basement prices. The governments of Myanmar and Iran do business their own way. It looks like there will be few opportunities for Western influence in Myanmar and no matter how much the Western powers try, they may never play an important role in the economic viability of Myanmar.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Fed officials signal policy to stay on course

HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - The recent surge in oil prices is no prelude to broader price increases that would force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, top Fed officials said on Thursday in what appears to be the predominant view at the central bank.
The comments, from Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota and Fed Board Governor Elizabeth Duke, echoed recent remarks by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, adding to expectations the central bank will stay on course with its $600 billion debt-buying program through the end of June and will not look to reverse its super-easy monetary policy any time soon.
Daniel Tarullo, also a Fed governor, identified himself as in the same camp, saying there are no signs that higher overall inflation, spurred by surging energy and commodity prices, will translate to underlying inflation. Tarullo, answering questions while speaking on a panel in Washington, said commodity prices are notoriously volatile.
Even a policymaker who is viewed as an inflation hawk at the central bank, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, said he saw no imminent danger that inflation would take off.
However, Plosser, who has questioned the Fed's bond buying program, said there is no guarantee higher energy prices will not pass through to overall inflation, particularly with Fed monetary policy operating at full throttle.
He said that in light of the solid recovery, the central bank must begin to consider when to start withdrawing the unprecedented support to the economy to weather a financial panic and deep recession.
"The apparent strengthening of the U.S. economy suggests that, in the not-too-distant future, monetary policy will begin reversing course from a very accommodative policy stance," he said.
Plosser's views suggest the timing of the exit strategy will be a part of the debate at the Fed's next policy meeting April 26-27.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Playing the Return of Risk - end of QE2 by Barrons

With the end of the Fed's QE2 in sight, anticipate rising volatility, and profit from it.



The coming end of QE2 continues to dominate global markets, even though you're probably as tired of reading about it as this columnist is of writing about it. But, just as risk markets began to rally months ahead of the actual start last November of the Federal Reserve's program to purchase an additional $600 billion of Treasury securities, these same markets may be beginning to anticipate the end of the central bank's buying.
Commodities, notably crude oil, fell Monday despite the Fed's Vice Squad coming out to reassert the official line that their effect on inflation will be "transitory." Those vice officers consisted of Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the Fed's Board of Governor, and William Dudley, the New York Fed president who acts as vice chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's policy-setting panel. Both continued to argue in favor of the current accommodative policy, contrary to some Fed district presidents who would cut QE2 short.