Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Fed's Evans "Catastrophe" Comment Sparks US, Japan Stock Surge; China Purge

Chicago Fed's Charlie Evans appears to have decided to flex his voting member status, Bullard-ness this evening. Speaking during a forum in Chicago, after The FOMC Minutes showed data-dependence was the thing... Evans exclaimed "raising rates would be a catastrophe," and that "housing hasn't shown the strength he'd like to see," prompting S&P futures - with the help of USDJPY - to suddenly surge 16 points (and drag WTI Crude futures above $49.50 for fun). Nikkei futures enjoyed the ride ramping 200 points as USDJPY hit 119.70. But, much to the chagrin of the millions of freshly minted retail investors there, Chinese stocks plunged 2.2%... "we love the smell of stability in the Asian morning"

Evans explains...
  • *FED'S EVANS SAYS RAISING RATES WOULD BE A CATASTROPHE
  • *EVANS SAYS OIL IMPACT ON INFLATION TO REQUIRE CLOSE MONITORING
  • *EVANS SAYS WAGE GROWTH CONSISTENT WITH GOAL WOULD BE 3.5%-4%
  • *EVANS: DROP IN LONG-TERM INTEREST RATES `EXTRAORDINARY' PAST YR
  • *EVANS SAYS HOUSING HASN'T SHOWN STRENGTH HE'D LIKE TO SEE
And thus the fun-durr-mentals kick in...

and in Japan...

But not so much in China...

So to summarize - a Dovish Dove said Dovish things that he has said a thousand times before, contradicting a modestly hawkish biased FOMC and markets explode in a fit of illiquid exuberance...? Okeydokey, let's just see what happens when Europe opens