Tag Archives: European Union

Asian stocks rose lifted by commodity names; European equities trade mostly lower but with little in the way of conviction or firm direction while the Italian banking index is at the highest level in a year following domestic earnings; S&P index futures are modestly in the red after the cash market closed at a record high Wednesday and investors prepared for earnings from retailers; we expect the now general vol selling program to promptly lift the S&P into new all time highs minutes...

The following is an excerpt from David Enrich's nonfiction financial and legal thriller The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History.  (Read part of the prologue here; another excerpt can be found here) This excerpt takes place shortly after the accused mastermind of the Libor scandal, Tom Hayes, is fired from his job at Citigroup, kicking government investigations into interest-rate-rigging into a...

In February 2017 while preparing for a presentation in Gothenburg about central bank gold, I emailed Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, enquiring whether the Riksbank physically audits Sweden’s gold and whether it would provide me with a gold bar weight list of Sweden’s gold reserves (gold bar holdings). The Swedish official gold reserves are significant and amount to 125.7 tonnes, making the Swedish nation the...

Authored by Chris Hamilton via Econimica, The change in nations Core populations (25-54yr/olds) have driven economic activity for the later half of the 20th century, first upward and now downward.  The Core is the working population, the family forming population, the child bearing population, the first home buying, and the credit happy primary consumer.  Even a small increase (or contraction) in their quantity drives...

Last weekend, European leaders gathered in Rome for the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. They discussed, not for the first time, how to get the EU back on track. And they told each other they are still committed to the Union and believe in its future. (We’ve heard that one before, too.) But let’s just suppose that, when the European leaders sat down for lunch at the Quirinal Palace, some of them had a little too...

Gold Bullion Coin Worth $4 Million, Stolen in Berlin Museum Heist  - Gold coin called ‘Million Dollar Gold Coin’ or ‘Big Maple Leaf’ stolen from Berlin museum early on Monday- World's purest gold coin and in the Guinness Book of Records for its purity of 99999 fine gold- Gold coin was legal tender, investment grade, bullion coin and only 5 other coins were minted- The other 'Million Dollar Gold Coin' is still available for sale by GoldCore safely stored in vaults in...

Global stocks are lower across the board to start the week, as concerns about Trump's administration to pull off a material tax reform plan finally emerge, pressuring S&P futures some 20 points lower this morning, following European and Asian shares lower, while crude oil prices fall unable to find support in this weekend's OPEC meeting in Kuwait where a committee recommended to extend oil production cuts by another 6 months. Safe havens including the yen and bonds climbed as did gold,...

The Economist reports that forthcoming European payments regulation has the potential to disrupt the industry. Provided the customer has given explicit consent, banks will be forced to share customer-account information with licensed financial-services providers. … payment services … could become more integrated into the internet-browsing experience … With access to account data … fintech firms could offer customers budgeting advice, or guide them towards higher-interest savings accounts...

The diplomatic scandal between Turkey and the Netherlands deteriorated overnight, when Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned on Sunday that Turkey would retaliate in the "harshest ways" after Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, leading to a major protest in front of the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, while the Dutch embassy in Istanbul was closed off due to "safety concerns." "This situation has been protested in the strongest manner by our side, and it has been...

The IMF has released a report with an ex-post evaluation of Greece’s 2012 Extended Fund Facility (Exceptional Access under the 2012 Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility with Greece). A critical discussion by Charles Wyplosz on VoxEU. The Greek authorities are more optimistic than IMF staff about the economy’s outlook.