- The world's reserve currency could sink under the
Fed 's current policies,Bill Gross said in the FT. - He disputed Jerome Powell's decision to keep interest rates low until the pandemic is under control.
- Inflation will force the Fed to move away from its ultra-easy policies sooner than expected, he said.
Billionaire investor Bill Gross wrote in a Financial Times op-ed on Tuesday that the
"I suspect that $5 trillion spending programmes and the Fed's current package of near zero per cent short-term rates and $120 billio n of monthly bond buying will move growth, inflation and financial
Gross, who has since retired since co-founding investment firm Pimco and moving Janus Henderson Investors, argued the threat of inflation will force the US central bank to change tack and move away from its policies sooner than it expects.
"The Fed cannot for long continue to maintain current policy rates and expand its own balance sheet and therefore private bank reserves at a $120 billion monthly pace," he said.
Enormous amounts of money, as a result of quantitative easing, pumped into the
Gross called out Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for transitioning from a more conservative stance to one that has "unleashed the potential for chaotic future economic and market outcomes."
The one-time "bond king" disputed Powell's decision to keep interest rates low until the pandemic is more controlled and employment returns to normal. Unemployment may never return to 4% given the revolutionary changes in the work-from-home environment, in Gross' view.
"And how long can the
Gross also suggested that several cryptocurrencies and the boom in special-purpose acquisition companies have been a result of having an accommodative Fed.
"Cash has been trash for years, but soon it may be the only haven for investors sated beyond reasonable expectations of perpetually low yields and supportive bond kings and queens," he said.