Axel Merk

Merk Funds

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Yen's Kamikaze Flight Trajectory

  Published 19 January 2010 | viewed 2,619 times

  Forget about the flight to the dollar at the peak of the financial crisis: the yen was the ultimate beneficiary. The endlessly quoted unwinding of…

• ECB - Greece No California

  Published 14 January 2010 | viewed 2,786 times

  At its monthly press conference, European Central Bank (ECB) President Trichet was assertive in calling for fiscal discipline in its 16 member states that comprise…

• Fed Tightening? Give Us a Break!

  Published 16 December 2009 | viewed 3,376 times

  At the end of its scheduled two-day meeting, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) confirmed it will leave its target range for the federal…

• ECB - The Reluctant Hawk?

  Published 03 December 2009 | viewed 2,380 times

  The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its main refinancing rate unchanged at 1%, but announced that it will phase out its six-month and one-year refinancing…

• Dollar Implications of Dubai Jitters

  Published 02 December 2009 | viewed 3,089 times

  Thanksgiving eve, Dubai World, Dubai's state-owned development company, rattled the world by releasing a statement that it seeks a moratorium on its debt and interest…

• Strong Dollar Policy: What??

  Published 17 November 2009 | viewed 3,341 times

  "I believe deeply that it's very important to the United States, to the economic health of the United States, that we maintain a strong dollar,"…

• Who Cares About the Dollar?

  Published 05 November 2009 | viewed 4,513 times

  Who cares about the dollar? It turns out quite a few do, except for those who could put it on a course to long-term recovery.…

• Bernanke: Central Bankers Bob the Builder?

  Published 27 August 2009 | viewed 2,484 times

  First, the good news about Bernanke's nomination for a second term as head of the Federal Reserve (Fed): we know what we are getting and…

• Inflation or Hyperinflation?

  Published 24 June 2009 | viewed 4,202 times

  Inflation is dead - long live inflation! We hear about the threat of hyperinflation in the media - is this for real, can it happen…

• U.S. Dollar: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

  Published 16 June 2009 | viewed 3,969 times

  Russian President Medvedev suggests the dollar is on its way out; Russian Finance minister Kudrin says there is no substitute for the dollar. The Chinese…

• Merkel Cautions Central Bankers

  Published 03 June 2009 | viewed 4,014 times

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel caused a stir when warning the European Central Bank not to engage in asset purchases. She has received a lot of…

• Bernanke's Math - Does It Add Up?

  Published 03 June 2009 | viewed 3,214 times

  The current account deficit is down as we are less reliant on foreigners to finance our deficits; the government's deficit is increasingly covered by the…

• Geithner and China: Who Are You Fooling?

  Published 02 June 2009 | viewed 4,920 times

  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's trip to Asia has been heralded as a sales trip aimed at convincing the Chinese to keep buying U.S. Treasuries and…

• Market-Based Stress Test May Relieve Anxiety

  Published 06 May 2009 | viewed 2,788 times

  The stress test may be causing more harm than good. Why? Regulators should always have a good assessment of the health of financial institutions. If…

• Pearls Before Swine - Perils of Free Money

  Published 02 May 2009 | viewed 2,594 times

  April 30, 2009 The swine flu could not have come at a worse time. Just when there were signs of a nascent recovery, confidence takes…

• (Un)Intended Consequences: Uncertainty, Inflation and Inflexibility

  Published 20 April 2009 | viewed 3,314 times

  Present policies may be sowing the seeds for the next financial crisis. Despite recent market optimism, we believe present interventions could produce significant future adverse…

• Bailout Economics: Politics of Self Destruction

  Published 31 March 2009 | viewed 4,235 times

  The patchwork of attempts to prop up the financial system has taken on a life of its own - we call it bailout economics. At…

• Reflation Investing - Which Currencies Benefit?

  Published 18 March 2009 | viewed 3,710 times

  Reflation refers to policy makers' attempts to "reflate" the economy, to prop up what many would consider a broken system. Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben…

• Depression Investing - Which Currencies to Hide in?

  Published 10 March 2009 | viewed 4,969 times

  The world's a mess and in our eyes policy makers are inadvertently doing their best to worsen a bad situation. Let's assume you've had it…

• Toxic Securities - Wanted: Market Based Prices

  Published 03 March 2009 | viewed 3,250 times

  Shaken insurance giant AIG has argued that fair value accounting is what got the world into this financial crisis. This debate is flaring up once…