Tag Archives: Featured

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Founder, Chairman and Co-CIO of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio - Click to enlarge As we scoffed oveernight, who better than a handful of semi, and not so semi, billionaires – perplexed by the populist backlash of the past year – to sit down and discuss among each other how a “squeezed and Angry” middle-class should be fixed. And...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, January 18(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge GBP/CHF Yesterday morning Theresa May, the UK Prime Minister set out a clear and realistic plan for the UK’s Brexit, which is likely to begin at the end of March this year. Many had expected to see her give a ‘Hard Brexit’ leaning speech and the Pound had lost value in the lead up to her comments, but when she...

One of the topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos is: Squeezed and angry: how to fix the middle class crisis. As a precursor, the WEF published the 135 page  Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017, which ranks Switzerland 3rd behind Norway and Luxembourg on inclusion, out of a group of 30 advanced economies. In addition, unlike Luxembourg, which is headed slowly backwards, both Switzerland and Norway...

  A Shift in Expectations When discussing the outlook for so-called “risk assets”, i.e., mainly stocks and corporate bonds (particularly low-grade bonds) and their counterparts on the “safe haven” end of the spectrum (such as gold and government bonds with strong ratings), one has to consider different time frames and the indicators applicable to these time frames. Since Donald Trump’s election victory, there have been...

Sterling’s 2.75% rally today is the biggest advance in more than eight years. The UK government has done a good job of managing expectations. Over the last week or so, Prime Minister May and Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond has made it clear that the intention was a “clean break” from the EU. There is an implicit threat by both officials not to see a punitive agreement. There was, though little new in May’s speech...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, January 17(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge   GBP/CHF - British Pound Swiss Franc, January 17(see more posts on GBP/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is broadly lower against major and emerging market currencies.  It has given up yesterday’s gains and more.  The proximate cause appears to be comments by President-elect Trump in a Wall...

As political and business elite gather at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, a new report is shining light on the shocking reality of the wealth gap between the very rich and poor that is “pull our societies apart.” A report by Oxfam released ahead the World Economic Forum in Davos shows the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men...

See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. Rising Scarcity and a Nascent Change in Trend Last month, we noted that there could be a trend change in progress. Not only are the prices of the metals rising (which is just a mirror-image of the dollar falling, from 27.6 milligrams of gold just before Christmas to currently under 26mg). But the scarcity of gold as we...

For those unfamiliar with what goes on at the annual January boondoggle at the World Economic Forum in Davos, here is the simple breakdown. Officially, heads of state, captains of industry, prominent academics, philanthropists and a retinue of journalists, celebrities and hangers-on will descend Tuesday on the picturesque alpine village of Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. Unofficially, it’s the world’s...

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, DAVOS MAN: “A soulless man, technocratic, nationless and cultureless, severed from reality. The modern economics that undergirded Davos capitalism is equally soulless, a managerial capitalism that reduces economics to mathematics and separates it from human action and human creativity.” – From the post: “For the Sake of Capitalism,...