Tag Archives: Featured

See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. Fat-Boy Waves The prices of the metals dropped $17 and $0.35, and the gold-silver ratio rose to 77.  A look at the chart of either metal shows that a downtrend in prices (i.e. uptrend in the dollar) that began in mid-April reversed in mid-July. Then the prices began rising (i.e. dollar began falling). But that move ended...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.17% to 1.1452 CHF EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, October 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Firm US interest rates and a strong manufacturing ISM yesterday help support the greenback, while disappointing construction PMI in the UK weighs on sterling. The euro briefly slipped below $1.17 in Asia for the first time in six weeks. It...

(summary of presentation  based on my book, Political Economy of Tomorrow, delivered to Bank Credit Analyst conference yesterday) Alice laughed. There is no use trying; she said, “one can’t believe impossible things.” I dare say you haven’t had much practice, said the queen. When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. — Lewis...

Today we’ll continue to size up the bull market in governmental promises. As we do so, keep an old trader’s slogan in mind: “That which cannot go on forever, won’t.” Or we could say it differently: An unsustainable trend must eventually stop. Lately I have focused on the trend in US public pension funds, many of which are woefully underfunded and will never be able to pay workers the promised benefits, at least without...

– Gold climbs over 12% in YTD, matching S&P500 performance– Palladium best performing market, surges 36% 2017 YTD– Gold outperforms Nikkei 225, Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE and ISEQ– Geo-political concerns including Trump and North Korea supporting gold– Safe haven demand should push gold higher in Q4 – Owning physical gold not dependent on third party websites and technology remains essential Year to Date Relative...

The erosion of social order in any historical or geographic context is gradual; until it isn’t. Germany has always followed a keen sense of this process, having experienced it to every possible extreme between the World Wars. Hyperinflationary collapse doesn’t happen overnight; it took three years for the Weimar mark to disintegrate, and then Weimar Germany. Even Nazism wasn’t all it once. What was required was...

Bleeding the Patient to Health There’s something alluring about cure-alls and quick fixes. Who doesn’t want a magic panacea to make every illness or discomfort disappear? Such a yearning once compelled the best and the brightest minds to believe the impossible for over two thousand years. Instantaneous relief! No matter what your affliction is, snake oil cures them all. - Click to enlarge For example, from antiquity...

Le professeur Tille, membre du conseil de banque de la BNS nous présente un graphique ci-dessous avec une courbe verte qui est l’accumulation des excédents de la balance courante de la Suisse. Rappelons que les soldes de TARGET2 sont précisément les soldes -excédents/déficits- de la balance courante. Les excédents de l’Allemagne serviraient à combler les déficits des autres, en échange bien évidemment de reconnaissances...

The Used Goods Question Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall or they remain steady for years. In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so...

​ Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.30% to 1.1404 CHF EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, October 02(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is broadly higher as the quarter-end positioning losses seen at the end of last week area reversed. Developments in the US are seen as dollar positive, while the Catalonia-Madrid conflict, and slightly softer EMU...