US Economy

Morgan Stanley with the note. Core inflation moves sideways in December, at 0.28%M (vs 0.28%M prior, and 0.2%M consensus).

US shares rose and bond yields fell sharply after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and signalled that its policy tightening of the last two years is at an end.

Cross-posted from ZH.

TS Lombard with the terrifying analysis. November consumer sentiment as tracked by the Conference Board was released and the spread between present and future expectations point to recession, perhaps one is already underway yet undated (doubtful).

Except for Alboflated Australia, of course, where falling living standards will include lower wage growth, rising unemployment.

Bank credit keeps draining away: Big and small: Down 1% year on year now.

This has to become a problem soon.

In the US, not Australia.

BofA with the note.

Austerity of sorts.

US bank credit continued to fall last week: Large and small: Year-on-year is still falling: Deutsche has produced a great chart of financial conditions.

TS Lombard with the note.

US bank lending was not terrible last week with a small rise: Big and small firmed: But we are still well negative year-on-year: Under the surface, the tightening continues.

TsLombard with the note.

Not surprisingly, the US credit crunch has returned.

Bank lending fell last week: And remains down year-on year: The keenest source of stress is SMEs: Look for the yield shock to tighten on this segment again over the next few months as balance sheet losses on Treasuries trigger further bank restructuring.

The US jobs report was perfect for landing pundits.

Calculated Risk with the note.

BCA with the note.

US lending continues to fall.

US bank credit rose marginally last week but still fell further year on year: It will be interesting to see what effect the latest round of rising yields does to small banks.

The RBA minutes: Members commenced their discussion of the global economy by observing that headline inflation had continued to ease in year-ended terms in most economies because food and energy commodity prices were generally lower than they had been a year earlier.