Bill Witherell's Blog

Chief Global Economist
bill [dot] witherell [at] cumber [dot] com ()

Bill Witherell joined Cumberland Advisors as Chief Global Economist in November 2005 and became a Portfolio Manager in December 2005. He also is a Senior Consultant for Finance and Corporate Governance to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). From 1989 through September 2005 he was OECD's Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. He joined the Secretariat of the OECD in Paris, France, in 1977.

Dr. Witherell is a graduate of Colby College and holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University. Dr. Witherell began his career as a business economist with Exxon and Esso Eastern (1967-73), where he held positions in the economics, treasury and corporate planning functions. He moved to the international economic and financial relations field in 1973 with positions first in the U.S. Department of State and then in the Department of the Treasury (1974-77) as Director of the Office of Financial Resources and Energy Finance.

Dr. Witherell currently resides in North Grafton, MA. He is a past Chairman of the International Roundtable of the National Association for Business Economics, a member of the Boston Economic Club and the Westborough MA Rotary.

China Riding the Global Economic Recovery

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By Bill Witherell – The global economic recovery is strengthening and becoming more synchronized, according to updated projections for 2017 and 2018 by both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and...

Critical UK and French Elections Approach, Timing for Italy Advances

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The election in the UK is now less than two weeks ahead, on June 8th, followed three days later by the first round of the French parliamentary election on June 11th, with the second and final round on June 18th. An election in Italy, which many did not expect to occur until...

France and Europe Dodge Bullet, Yet Risks Still Ahead

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Markets in France, Europe, and globally are rallying as they breathe a sigh of relief following the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday. The pro-business centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron came in first, beating the far-right...

Eurozone Equities: Political Risks versus Strong Macro Crosscurrents

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The recovery in the Eurozone economies is firming with respect to private consumption and investment, with higher employment and labor income, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). Yet financial markets are on...

Can Italy Be Saved?

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On Sunday, Italian voters rejected by a wide margin a constitutional reform put forward by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The result plunges Italy into a likely period of extended uncertainty and seriously threatens financial stability.

The Specter of a Hard Brexit

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The decline in the British pound sterling that began in June when the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) accelerated last week, culminating in a “flash crash” on Friday October 7th that wiped out a tenth of sterling’s value, briefly...

Subdued Global Growth and Flat Inflation Confront Central Banks

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The European Central Bank (ECB) met on September 8. The US Federal Reserve Bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets on September 21, and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) holds its next Monetary Policy Meeting on September 20–21.

What Happens When Central Banks Become Major Buyers in the Stock Market? Case Study: Japan

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The Bank of Japan decided at its July 28–29 meeting to boost its purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to an annual rate of 6 trillion yen, almost double the previous rate of 3.3 trillion yen. The BOJ began its ETF purchasing in October 2010 at a much more modest...

Britain’s Self-Inflicted Recession

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Post-Brexit-vote pain is beginning, and it will get worse. Investors’ attitudes about Britain’s prospects are signaled by the tumbling currency. This week the pound plunged to three-decade lows. Confidence in Britain’s economy...

French Stage Nationwide Protests in Response to Pro-Business Reform Efforts

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The Socialist president of France, François Hollande, elected some four years ago on an anti-finance, anti-wealth, pro-labor platform, has been trying over the past two years to move the nation’s economic policies and regulations more...

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