Bank hedging throws spanner into ECB monetary policy

19 December 2023EconomicsBNP Paribas, European Central Bank, interest rate swaps, quantitative easing, Societe GeneraleNick Dunbar

Bank hedging strategies and the European Central Bank’s reversal of pandemic-era subsidised bank loans showed that quantitative tightening is not just about selling bond holdings.

Taperchase

9 December 2021Articles, Economicsinflation, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

What happens when inflation and quantitative easing collide? Despite the taper talk, QE isn’t going away soon.

Making debt disappear

20 January 2021EconomicsCovid-19, modern monetary theory, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

Developed nations face ballooning post-pandemic debt burdens. In a QE world, does that actually matter?

How Covid-19 sent a shiver through bank balance sheets

28 May 2020Bankscounterparty credit risk, credit valuation adjustment, Federal Reserve, mortgage-backed securities, quantitative easing, stress VaR, Value-at-riskNick Dunbar

In value-at-risk models, counterparty exposure and securities holdings, the impact of the pandemic appears across bank balance sheets

Corporate bonds dance to the central banks’ tune

9 October 2019Economicscorporate bonds, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

This year’s reversal in central bank sentiment has swept through the corporate bond market

Europe’s negative yield explosion

18 July 2019EconomicsECB, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

Amounts of negative-yielding euro debt have surged to record levels in anticipation of further easing. But how effective is the ECB’s strategy?

Italy’s populists throw down gauntlet to Draghi

25 May 2018Articles, EconomicsECB, European Central Bank, Italy, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

Italy’s new populist government is on a collision course with the ECB, which is mulling the tapering of QE purchases. But inflation divergence suggests a way out for the central bank.

The great November steepening

23 November 2016Articlesgovernment bonds, political risk, quantitative easingNick Dunbar

Government bond yields in November have been characterised by a steepening trend as the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory sinks in. With globalisation in retreat, and borrowing likely to increase, long-term bond yields may rise further.