Tag Archives: Featured

Juiced Stimulus, in a general sense, is something that causes an action or response.  A ringing alarm clock may prompt someone to exit their slumber.  Or a fist to the gut may force someone to gasp for breath. Stimulus can come in many forms and varieties.  It can come in the form of a stick; do this and you won’t get whacked over the head.  So, too, it can come in the form of a carrot; do that and you’ll get a...

Stock Markets EM ended the weak on a soft note, as the hawkish Fed decision continued to have reverberations for global markets. Worst performers in EM last week were CLP (-3.3%), ZAR (-2%), and KRW (-1.5%). With little fundamental news expected this week, markets may take a more consolidative tone, especially with the holidays approaching. However, we continue to believe that the global backdrop for EM remains...

Summary: Review of recent BIS report. US election spurred a substantial change in sentiment. Equity and bond market reactions are roughly similar to when Reagan was elected, with the dollar, at least initially, stronger than then. The Bank of International Settlement asks in its quarterly report if there has been “a paradigm shift in the markets?”   Although it does not provide an explicit answer, it does...

Swiss Franc Currency Index The Swiss Franc index reduced its losses to 2 percent in the last month, while the dollar index is still 2.5 percent up. Trade-weighted index Swiss Franc, December 16(see more posts on Swiss Franc Index, ) Source: FT.com - Click to enlarge The chart shows the massive advance of the dollar index in the last three years, while the Swiss Franc index lagged. Swiss Franc Currency Index (3...

In the cutthroat world of commodities trading, there’s no bigger prize than Russia. The country of Vladimir Putin has it all: oil, natural gas, aluminum, nickel, wheat, coal and many other riches. The world’s biggest trading houses have jostled over it for decades.[embedded content] In recent years, Trafigura Group had pushed ahead of arch-rival Glencore Plc in Russian oil trading. Now, Glencore Chief Executive Officer...

This is a blatantly politicized “report” that is not supported by any evidence, nor is it supported by the other 16 intelligence agencies. The recent pronouncement by the C.I.A. that Russian hackers intervened in the U.S. presidential election doesn’t pass the sniff test–on multiple levels. Let’s consider the story on the most basic levels. 1. If the report is so “secret,” why is it dominating the news flow? 2. Why was...

As if things were not already chaotic enough in the socialist utopia of Venezuela, following President Nicolas Maduro’s decision to follow Indian PM Modi’s playbook and announce that the nation’s largest denomination bill (100-Bolivars – worth around 3c) will be pulled from circulation in 72 hours, he has tonight closed the border to Colombia to crackdown on currency smuggling by so-called “mafias”. As AP reports,...

A Quick Chart Overview Below is an overview of charts we picked to illustrate the current market situation. The selection is a bit random, but not entirely so. The first set of charts concerns positioning and sentiment. As one would expect, these look fairly stretched at the moment, but there are always ways in which they could become even more stretched. First a look at the NAAIM exposure index: NAAIM Exposure Index,...

© Helder Almeida | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Switzerland continues to see a disconnect between executive pay and company performance three years after voters passed some of the world’s strictest limits on compensation, according to a study by corporate governance group Ethos. While the so-called fat-cat initiative has helped to improve transparency, absolute amounts paid to top managers and the boards of...

Summary: Obama Administration has taken a hardline against China’s trade practices. Other countries are also resisting China’s arguments that it is a market economy. Last week, US imposed anti-dumping duties on imported washing machines from China. As was the campaign and the initial appointments, the election of an unorthodox candidate promises to change the way things are done in Washington. However, just as...