Tag Archives: Featured

Summary: Light economic calendar in the week ahead, but anticipation of US tax reform may underpin dollar and equities. European politics are in flux (France, Italy, Greece) and this may see spreads widen over Germany. Russia’s outlook was upgraded by Moody’s before the weekend, and China has announced no coal imports this year from North Korea. Brazil is expected to cut Selic by 75 bps. The week ahead is...

Stock Markets EM FX ended last week on a soft note, as some risk off sentiment crept back into the markets. The dollar gained broadly on Friday despite lower US rates as bonds rallied, the yen gained and equities sold off. Markit PMI for February Tuesday and FOMC minutes Wednesday could give the markets some further clues regarding Fed policy. We believe markets are underestimating the Fed’s capacity to tighten...

There are actually two parts to examining the orthodox treatment of the output gap. The first is the review, looking backward to trace how we got to this state. The second is looking forward trying to figure what it means to be here. One final rearward assessment is required so as to frame how we view what comes next. As I suggested earlier this week, the so-called output gap started at the trough of the Great...

  Swiss Franc Currency Index The Swiss Franc index was mostly unchanged against the U.S. Dollar Index in the last week. One word about Marc Chandler’s argumentation below: Three types of investors are long the dollar: FX investors/speculators are long the dollar because of the difference in monetary policy (e.g. higher US rates). Cash investors, for example rich people from China and other Emerging Markets, currently...

The U.S. will never go back on a gold standard. The notion that a U.S. Dollar backed by gold would solve our financial problems is pure folly. Why? Because, if the U.S. Empire didn’t abandon the gold standard in 1971, it would have collapsed decades ago. Unfortunately, some of the top experts in the precious metals community continue to suggest that revaluing gold much higher, to say…. $15,000-$50,000 an ounce, would...

The Producer Price Index (PPI) or officially named "Producer and Import Price Index" describes the changes in prices for producers and importers. For us it is interesting because it is used in the formula for the Real Effective Exchange Rate. When producers and importers profit on lower price changes when compared to other countries, then the Swiss Franc reduces its overvaluation. The Swiss PPI values of -6% in 2015...

Summary: The system of checks and balances is working. Populism-nationalism is not sweeping across the world. Even in US and UK, populist agenda was appropriated by the main-center right party. The attack on the body politics is activating the immune system in ways that the consensus narrative does not recognize. The high level of anxiety among investors is masked by the rise of equities. As political issues...

Summary Head of Samsung Group Jay Y. Lee was formally arrested on allegations of bribery, perjury, and embezzlement. The assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half-brother suggests the political situation in North Korea may be heating up. The Polish central bank is tilting more hawkish. The Turkish central bank said it will allow domestic companies to use liras to repay export loans. Nigerian President Buhari may...

Gold is undervalued according to a record number of fund managers Last time gold was considered undervalued, the price surged BAML surveyed 175 money managers with $543 billion in assets under management 34% of investors believe protectionism is the biggest threat to markets Gold viewed as the best protectionist investment by a third of investors Gold in USD – 10 Years - Click to enlarge For the third time in a...

Right now there are two conventional propositions behind the “reflation” trade, and in many ways both are highly related if not fully intertwined. The first is that interest rates have nowhere to go but up. The Fed is raising rates again and seems more confident in doing more this year than it wanted to last year. With nominal rates already rising in the last half of 2016, and with more (surveyed) optimism than even...