U.S. quantitative tightening is underway!
The amount of U.S. Treasury bonds held by the Federal Reserve (FED) has dropped by the largest amount ever (over $40 billion in two weeks). The reduction of the FED's balance sheet is in full swing. Source: Bloomberg, T.Costa
The Federal Reserve's hiking cycle: close to the end?
For the first time in this rate hike cycle, the 2-year U.S. Treasury yield is below the federal funds rate (lower bound). The market seems to be more and more convinced that this rate hike cycle of the US central bank will end soon.
So far in January, BoJ has bought 13 trillion Yen in JGBs to hold its 0.5% cap on 10-year yield. That's almost 26 trillion if we extrapolate this pace to the rest of the month. Unsustainable.
Time is rapidly running out for BoJ yield curve control. Source: Robin Brooks
Bank of Japan's daily government bond purchases at an all-time high!
The Bank of Japan is buying huge amounts of government bonds in order to cap the yield on Japanese 10-year government bonds to 0.5%. Yesterday the BoJ bought 4.6 trillion yen and today it is close to 5t yen. Note that at the last meeting, the BoJ had decided on a 9t yen bond buying program ...per month! Source: Bloomberg
SWISS NATIONAL BANK POSTS $143 BILLION LOSS IN 2022, THE LARGEST IN ITS 115-YEAR HISTORY
The Swiss National Bank posted an annual loss of 132 billion Swiss francs ($143 billion) in 2022, it said on Monday, the biggest in its 115-year history as falling stock and fixed-income markets hit the value of its share and bond portfolio - source: Bloomberg
Swiss National Bank balance sheet trades in tandem w/FANG Plus Index
The Swiss National Bank is an active investor in stock markets, unlike most other Central Banks. SNB balance sheet trades in tandem w/FANG Plus Index. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
Central banks are buying record amounts of Gold
Source: The Economist
The main reason for BoJ to exit yield curve control (YCC)
Main reason for BoJ to exit yield curve control (YCC) is that it's had to buy unsustainably large amounts of JGBs to cap yields as global interest rates have risen. But the slow exit from YCC is now having the opposite effect. BoJ holdings of JGBs (red) are through the roof... Source: Robin Brooks
