Tag Archives: China

The Economist reports about the fintech revolution in China. By just about any measure of size, China is the world’s leader in fintech (short for “financial technology”, and referring here to internet-based banking and investment). It is far and away the biggest market for digital payments, accounting for nearly half of the global total. It is dominant in online lending, occupying three-quarters of the global market. A ranking of the world’s most innovative fintech firms gave Chinese...

Importance of Hiding Gold Creatively and Securely If Taking Delivery Why gold retains value? Interesting unknown gold facts "Prepare your jaws for a sizeable drop!" History, finite, rare and peak gold "It is beautiful to look at..." 'Heavy metal' - Thud sound of a gold bar (kilo) 'Going for gold' - Olympic gold medals to Chelthenham 'Gold Cup' Peak gold ... "Hard work to get gold out of the ground..." How much an Oscar is actually worth? Importance of hiding gold creatively and securely...

The Oscars - Worth Their Weight in Gold? 89th Oscars to air this weekend Oscars have been dipped in 24 karat gold since 1929 If the Oscars were made of solid gold they would weigh 330 ounces 330 ounces of gold is worth $408,210 at today's prices (nearly €400k & £330k) Oscars cannot be sold, making them a tricky investment piece Steven Spielberg keeps his gold Oscar with the Academy for ‘safe-keeping’ Shows importance of owning gold in safest ways Price of gold has climbed from $20.67...

Topics discussed in the report include: Support for a “strong leader” as opposed to checks and balances has increased in many countries. The share of households with flat or falling market incomes during the 2005-14 period has been around 65% in advanced economies, and 97% in Italy. In the preceding decade, it had been negligible. The Eurasia Group’s top ten risks for 2017: Independent America China overreacts A weaker Merkel No reform Technology and the Middle East Central banks get...

The Economist reports that implementation gradually changes: [T]he way in which the People’s Bank of China conducts monetary policy is changing. It is beginning to look a little more like central banks in developed economies as it shifts towards liberalised interest rates. Rather than simply ordering banks to set specific lending or deposit rates—the focus for many years in China—it is altering the monetary environment around them. China does not yet have an equivalent of the...

For 2016 international merchandise trade statistics point out China has net imported roughly 1,300 tonnes of gold, down 17 % from 2015. The importance of measuring gold imports into the Chinese domestic gold market – which are prohibited from being exported – is to come to the best understanding on the division of above ground reserves in and outside the Chinese domestic market.  Kindly be advised to have read my...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, February 14(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge The pound has seen a good start to the week making gains against all of the major currencies including the Swiss Franc. One of the reasons why the pound is supported appears to be the shift of attention from Brexit to other global changes to include the new Trump administration and the upcoming European...

Back in 1950, close to 30% of the global population lived in cities. As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, that has shifted dramatically, and by 2050, a whopping 70% of people will live in urban areas – some of which will be megacities housing tens of millions of people. This trend of urbanization has been a boon to global growth and the economy. In fact, it is estimated today by McKinsey that the 600 top urban centers contribute a whopping 60% to the world’s total...

Dear FX traders: forget the dot plot, and prepare to learn a new – or to some forgotten – skill: how to read trade flows. As Bloomberg’s Vincent Cignarella and Andrea Wong point out, currency traders accustomed to analyzing the Fed’s dot plot and monthly U.S. jobs figures to predict the direction of the world’s reserve currency are having to learn, or in some cases re-learn, a largely forgotten ability: how to...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, February 10(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge Sterling vs the Swiss Franc has been climbing recently as the Brexit talks appear to be going the right way at the moment. The talks are progressing and it has been confirmed that the government will be allowed to vote on the final agreement prior to the triggering of Article 50. The Pound is still under huge...