Tags: Stockman | Draghi | ECB | bond

Stockman: ECB Chief Draghi 'a Monumentally Stupid Man'

By    |   Monday, 20 April 2015 07:40 AM EDT

Former White House Budget Director David Stockman has made clear his disdain for the Federal Reserve's massive easing program, and he thinks no more highly of the European Central Bank (ECB)'s huge stimulus package.

ECB President Mario Draghi insisted last week that the central bank's monthly bond purchases of 60 billion euros ($65 billion) will continue.

Stockman's take: "it is tempting to think that Mario Draghi is being paid off by someone," he writes on his blog. "But a project this monumentally stupid may be just that. To wit, the work of a monumentally stupid man."

Stockman's not too impressed with Europe's soaring bond markets. "The geniuses at the ECB are not cornering the market. They are being cornered by the speculators who are recklessly front-running the central bank with their trigger finger on the sell button," he states.

"Everything in the European fixed income market is now so wildly over-priced and disconnected from reality that the clueless fools in Frankfurt dare not stop."

The 10-year German government bond yields 0.07 percent

Bottom line: "this is a house of cards like no other," Stockman declares.

The ECB and other central banks are pushing down interest rates — to negative territory in several European countries — and that's hurting many investors, says Laurence Fink, CEO of Blackrock.

"Global interest rates are creating huge pain," he tells CNBC.

"This is something that's misunderstood and not talked about enough. Everyone appreciates how low rates accelerate the equity markets, but it's certainly creating quite a bit of havoc with a lot of our clients."

The Fed has kept its federal funds rate target at a record low of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008. And almost six years into the economic recovery, the 10-year Treasury yield stands at a paltry 1.89 percent.

"I don't believe central banks appreciate what low interest rates do to the long-term interests of insurance companies, pension funds, retirement plans," Fink explains.

And what is the ramification for investors?

"If you think rates are going to stay that low longer, you're going to see more and more people moving into equities, into more alternatives," he notes. "We're seeing that conversation now. We have one of the top-ranked European equity funds in the world, and we're seeing huge inflows into our European equities."

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StreetTalk
Former White House Budget Director David Stockman has made clear his disdain for the Federal Reserve's massive easing program, and he thinks no more highly of the European Central Bank (ECB)'s huge stimulus package.
Stockman, Draghi, ECB, bond
382
2015-40-20
Monday, 20 April 2015 07:40 AM
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