Can The World Afford Higher Interest Rates?

thenews 2013.06.15 20:03

That’s the end of QE tapering talk then? Not quite, but it should die down somewhat, give U.S. Fed Reserve conduit Jon Hilsenrath’s latest kiss-and-tell article in The Wall Street Journal. Thankfully, it might also stop all the blather about the U.S. and global economies recovering (they’re not) and this being the end of the bond bull market (premature). What most investors fail to realise is that developed markets, including the U.S., simply can’t afford a normalisation in interest rates: higher rates on government debt would crush their economies. This means QE tapering is highly unlikely and the current money printing experiment will only end when investors lose faith in government bonds. Where getting closer to that end game, but we’re not there yet.

If the above is right, we may be in for a prolonged period of volatility where investors expect QE to be cut back, it may indeed get cut back at some point, only to increase again when it’s recognised that any normalisation in interest rates will create huge problems. For emerging markets such as Asia, it’ll mean increased volatility, although I’d argue the past week’s stock market moves are reverting back to normal from an abnormally tranquil period over the past 3-4 years. This will create some opportunities, but be aware that the odds still favour a bond market crash at a later date.