The Financial System’s Plumbing Is Clogged

(Bloomberg) --

A stock market trying to notch record highs this week was simultaneously thrown a few curve balls. Attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities sent crude prices surging. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for a second straight time through what was seen as a “hawkish cut.’’ And short-term financing costs went, as some said, crazy.

Joining this week’s “What Goes Up” podcast to make sense of it all is Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, and Alex Harris, who covers short-term funding markets for Bloomberg News.

Sonders, who has been named one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Finance’’ by American Banker, weighed in:

“We’re not in a position to think that this is some sign of impending doom,” she said of the repo market squeeze. “There is a kink in the plumbing of the system.’’

She adds, however, that “it’s a little bit too soon to tell.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Topher Forhecz at tforhecz@bloomberg.net, David Rovella

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