Overview: The US 10-year yield is off around a dozen basis points off yesterday's high and European growth in Q3 was better than expected. This appears to have encouraged some dollar liquidation today. The greenback is softer against the G10 currencies, but the Canadian dollar and sterling. The much-awaited UK Autumn budget will be announced shortly. Sterling is consolidating around $1.30. Most emerging market currencies also are enjoying a firmer tone today. Asia...
Read More »The Dollar Goes Nowhere Quickly
Overview: The dollar continues to consolidate broadly after the dramatic price swings at the end of last week. For the most part, the greenback remains inside yesterday's ranges, which were inside last Friday's. The G10 currencies are a little heavier today, except the Japanese yen and Norwegian krone, which are posting small gains. Indeed, the greenback is near session highs against most of the major currencies as we go to print. Emerging market currencies are more...
Read More »As The Fed Seeks To Justify Raising Rates, Global Growth Rates Have Been Falling Off Uniformly Around The World
Sentiment indicators like PMI’s are nice and all, but they’re hardly top-tier data. It’s certainly not their fault, these things are made for very times than these (piggy-backing on the ISM Manufacturing’s long history without having the long history). Most of them have come out since 2008, if only because of the heightened professional interest in macroeconomics generated by a global macro economy that can never get itself going. What PMI’s do have going for them is...
Read More »Harmful Modern Myths And Legends
Loreley Rock near Sankt Goarshausen sits at a narrow curve on the Rhine River in Germany. The shape of the bluff produces a faint echo in the wind, supposedly the last whispers of a beautiful maiden who threw herself from it in despair once spurned by her paramour. She was transformed into a siren, legend says, a tantalizing wail which cries out and lures fishermen and tradesmen on the great river to their death. While...
Read More »Die Eurozone bleibt instabil
Eine Finanzkrise ist auch heute wieder möglich: Die Skyline von Frankfurt. Foto: Kai Pfaffenbach (Keystone) Vergleicht man den Eurokurs mit dem Dollar oder mit der Entwicklung des Bruttoinlandprodukts der Eurozone, könnte man auf die Idee kommen, die grundlegende Instabilität der Währungsunion sei überwunden. Doch dafür gibt es keinen Grund. Weder die aktuelle Währungsentwicklung noch das Wirtschaftswachstum sagen etwas über die Qualität des Gebildes aus. Im Gegenteil: Dieser Fehler hat...
Read More »For The First Time Ever, The “1%” Own More Than Half The World’s Wealth: The Stunning Chart
Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what has become the single biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in Swiss bank’s infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past year, suggests that the lower...
Read More »SNB: It’s A Bonfire Of The Absurdities
Authored by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” – Ecclesiastes 1:2, King James Version (attributed to King Solomon in his old age) This week’s letter will take a look at the growing number of ridiculous, inane, and otherwise nonsensical absurdities that fill the daily economic headlines. I have gone from the occasional smile to scratching my...
Read More »SNB: It’s A Bonfire Of The Absurdities
Authored by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” – Ecclesiastes 1:2, King James Version (attributed to King Solomon in his old age) This week’s letter will take a look at the growing number of ridiculous, inane, and otherwise nonsensical absurdities that fill the daily economic headlines. I have gone from the occasional smile to scratching my...
Read More »Why Small States Are Better
Andreas Marquart and Philipp Bagus (see their mises.org author pages here and here) were recently interviewed about their new book by the Austrian Economics Center. Unfortunately for English-language readers, the book is only available in German. Nevertheless, the interview offers some valuable insights. Mr. Marquart, Mr. Bagus, you have released your new book „Wir schaffen das – alleine!” (“We can do it – alone!”)...
Read More »Switzerland Tops World’s Most Competitive Countries Index (Yemen Least)
Something else ‘Murica is no longer #1 in… A recently released World Economic Forum report has found that the global economy is recovering well nearly a decade on from the start of the global financial crisis with GDP growth hitting 3.5 percent in 2017. The eurozone in particular is regaining traction with 1.9 percent growth expected this year. As Statista’s Niall McCarthy points out, the improvement in...
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