Back in 2012, policy makers drove their main rate below zero to defend the krone’s peg to the euro. Since then, Danish homeowners have enjoyed continuous slides in borrowing costs. (and) ​The country with the longest history of negative central bank rates is offering homeowners 20-year loans at a fixed interest rate of zero.

Denmark has a so-called pass-through system in which mortgages are directly tied to the covered bonds used to fund the loans. Lenders act as brokers between borrowers and investors, generating income from fees, not interest rates. Borrowers get the coupon rate, though the effective cost is generally a bit higher because bonds rarely sell at par.

​(and) ​As rates have continued to sink, other banks in Denmark -- home to the world’s biggest mortgage-backed covered-bond market -- are joining Nordea. (and) Demand is there, Lisa Bergmann, chief housing economist at Nordea Kredit, said in a note. The bonds backing the mortgages are likely to price close to a record high, she said. (full brief here)

Cost of Living Index

Zero or positive growth in spending per capita. This group includes China, Egypt, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and most countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fast recovery in spending per capita: recovery by 2021-2022. These “fast recovers” represent a wide mix of countries, including India, most of Europe, and much of Southeast Asia.

Medium recovery in spending per capita: recovery by 2023-2024. This group includes large economies, such as the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Brazil, and most of South America.

Slow recovery in spending per capita: recovery completed after 2025. This group includes Mexico, most of the Middle East, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

The list of energy analysts who now foresee a peak in oil demand keeps growing. It includes Norway’s state-owned oil company Equinor (peaking around 2027-28), Norwegian energy researcher Rystad Energy (2028), French oil major Total SA (2030), consulting firm McKinsey (2033), clean-energy research group BloombergNEF (2035), and energy-industry advisors Wood Mackenzie (2035). The exporting nations of OPEC put the peak in 2040 while acknowledging that its new forecast might still prove too optimistic for oil. Notable exceptions include the International Energy Agency, which sees demand “plateauing” but not quite peaking...

Europe is taking unprecedented steps to phase out gasoline and diesel cars, with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson banning sales of cars that lack a plug from 2030. Germany last month said it will extend cash bonuses for purchasing EVs until 2025, expand the country’s charging network and make payments for topping up batteries easier. California will phase out sales of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035...

"Central banks all over the world are using the fiscal side of their balance sheet...  Monetary policy is essentially castrated by the zero bound." Kenneth Rogoff (and Carmen Reinhart) speaking with Bloomberg, May 24, 2020

The Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO recently told CNBC that the market dominance of Big Tech is a "very bearish sign" for the economy and corporate profits, which has historically been the largest driver of stock gains. Bernstein pointed to the outperformance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq versus broader indexes, and said that narrow leadership in the market is "an end-of-cycle event."  Markets.BusinessInsider.com, November 8, 2020

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