Tag Archives: China

Arguably one of the easier calls for us to make after 37 years in power was that President dos Santos would find ways of affording himself another 5 years in. Like any ‘effective’ leader, Mr. Santos made sure the final deal to do just that was stitched up long before the Party Congress formally convenes in Luanda, with a lower level MPLA ‘Central Committee’ already rubber stamping his name in mid-August. That also...

Norway Real House Price Per M2 We have all heard the incredible stories of housing riches in commodity producing hotspots such as Western Australia and Canada. People have become millionaires simply by leveraging up and holding on to properties. These are the beneficiaries of a global money-printing spree that pre-dates the financial crisis by decades. The road toward such outsized gains in property is not paved...

Submitted by Koos Jansen of BullionStar In the Gold Survey 2016 report by GFMS that covers the global gold market for calendar year 2015 Chinese gold consumption was assessed at 867 tonnes. As Chinese wholesale demand, measured by withdrawals from Shanghai Gold Exchange designated vaults, accounted for 2,596 tonnes in 2015 the difference reached an extraordinary peak for the year. In an attempt to explain the 1,729...

(I write a monthly column for a Chinese paper.  Here is a draft of it) It is as if Hamlet, the confused prince of Denmark, has taken up residence in Beijing. The famed-prince wrestled with “seeming” and “being”. So are Chinese officials. They seem to be relaxing their control over financial markets but are they really?  Are they tolerating market forces because they approve what they are doing, such as driving interest...

On a firmly rising gold price the UK is one of the largest net importers of gold in 2016. The gold price went up 25 % from $1,061.5 dollars per troy ounce on January 1 to $1,325.8 on June 31. Over this period the UK net imported 583 tonnes and GLD inventory mushroomed by 308 tonnes. In the month of June the UK gross imported 154.2 tonnes, up 22 % from May, and gross export was 1.9 tonnes, down 37 % from the previous...

It’s not shaping up to be a banner year for mergers and acquisitions in Europe. Deal value totaled about $400 billion as of July 26 and is on track to reach $800 billion by year-end, which will put it some $200 billion short of last year. And parts of the horizon beyond that aren’t exactly compelling, either: A Credit Suisse survey of European executives shortly after the U.K.’s June vote to leave the European Union found that the Brexit shock had already made business leaders more...

Swiss Franc The weak U.S. Retail Sales report let the euro improve against the dollar. We would have expected a stronger franc, given that the German growth was stronger (see more on the relationship between the German economy and CHF). Some technical movement after yesterday’s strong fall of EUR/CHF may have prevented that. Click to enlarge. United States There is a general consolidative tone in the capital...

The meltup continues with the S&P500 set to open at new all time highs as futures rise 0.2% overnight, with European, Asian stocks higher, as job data pushed MSCI Asia Pacific Index towards highest close since Aug. 2015. Germany, U.K. economic data seen positive, with dollar, oil rising, and gold declining. Global equities advanced with commodities and emerging markets on speculation the U.S. economy is strong enough to sustain growth while only triggering a gradual increase in interest...

Silver kangaroo coins have seen sales surge to over 10 million coins which is double the expected demand for the year. Silver Kangaroo Coins 1 oz (2016) Introduced to the market less than 11 months ago in September 2015 at a launch attended by GoldCore, sales of the new release Perth Mint’s 2016 Australian Kangaroo 1 ounce silver bullion coin were anticipated to reach 5 million coins in their introductory first year. Yet sales of the silver coins have already surged to a...

Silver kangaroo coins have seen sales surge to over 10 million coins which is double the expected demand for the year. Silver Kangaroo Coins 1 oz (2016) Introduced to the market less than 11 months ago in September 2015 at a launch attended by GoldCore, sales of the new release Perth Mint’s 2016 Australian Kangaroo 1 ounce silver bullion coin were anticipated to reach 5 million coins in their introductory first year....