WEEKLY FED BALANCE SHEET REVIEW. ANOTHER STRONG SHOWING (WITH SOME QUESTION MARKS)
. Federal Reserve: "Factors Affecting Reserve Balances", August 1

- Fed's Treasuries holdings: $783.1bn (+$5.2bn)
- Other central banks' Treasuries holdings: $1,252.2bn (-$1.1bn) (*)
- Other central banks' agency securities: $757.8bn (+$8.0bn) (*)
- Mackinlay's Global Dollar Liquidity Measure: $2,793.2bn (+$12.1n)

(*) Off-balance-sheet items.
agustin_mackinlay@yahoo.com
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The first August weekly Fed balance sheet contains mixed news. At first sight, the $12bn increase in our Global Dollar Liquidity measure would seem like very good news indeed. Below the surface, however, we note two things: [1] A large portion of the increase is due to the Fed itself; [2] The annual rate of growth took a beating (from +15.7% to 15.1%), reflecting tougher comparisons (just like corporate earnings).

Meanwhile, our Endogenous Liquidity Index, at -23.7%, is only slightly above last Friday's all-time low.