Swiss Franc Speculators were net short CHF in January 2015, shortly before the end of the peg, with 26.4K contracts. Then again in December 2015, when they expected a Fed rate hike, with 25.5K contracts. The biggest short CHF, however, happened in June 2007, when speculators were net short 80K contracts. Shortly after, the U.S. subprime crisis started. The carry trade against CHF collapsed. The...
Read More »Weekly Speculative Positions: CHF and GBP net shorts are slowly rising again
Swiss Franc Speculators were net short CHF in January 2015, shortly before the end of the peg, with 26.4K contracts. Then again in December 2015, when they expected a Fed rate hike, with 25.5K contracts. The biggest short CHF, however, happened in June 2007, when speculators were net short 80K contracts. Shortly after, the U.S. subprime crisis started. The carry trade against CHF collapsed. The...
Read More »FX Weekly Preview: Five Events that Will Drive the Capital Markets in the Week Ahead
Summary: Bank of Canada may be more upbeat following strong jobs and trade figures. China’s President Xi will speak at Davos and likely defend globalization and free trade, which some think the US is abandoning. UK PM May’s speech on Brexit may be blunted by few surprises, collapse of the government in Northern Ireland, and the pending Supreme Court ruling. ECB will leave rates on hold and look for Draghi to push...
Read More »Emerging Markets: Week Ahead Preview
Stock Markets EM FX ended the week mixed. Markets continue to grapple with the outlook for the so-called Trump Trade, which we believe is intact. MXN and TRY recovered from the relentless selling of recent days, but both remain vulnerable. Indeed, if the jump in US yields on Friday continues this week, most of EM should remain under pressure. Stock Markets Emerging Markets January 16 Source: Economist.com -...
Read More »The Difference of an A and BBB for Italy
Summary: DBRS cut Italy’s rating to BBB from A. It will increase the haircut on Italy’s sovereign bonds used for collateral by Italian banks. It is not a mortal blow or a significant hit, but is not helpful, except to add pressure on Italy and further reduce its ability to respond to another shock. The ECB takes the best credit rating of four agencies to set the haircut on collateral provided by banks for loans....
Read More »Emerging Markets: What has Changed
Summary China’s government has asked banks to balance their yuan inflows and outflows. Indonesia partially lifted a ban on exports of nickel ore and bauxite. Czech President Zeman picked two new central bankers as the end of the koruna cap looms. Turkish central bank is taking limited measures to support the lira. Turkey’s parliament voted 338-134 to discuss proposed constitutional changes that would increase the power...
Read More »Trump’s Plan to Close the Trade Deficit with China
Rags to Riches Jack Ma is an amiable fellow. Back in 1994, while visiting the United States he decided to give that newfangled internet thing a whirl. At a moment of peak inspiration, he executed his first search engine request by typing in the word beer. The search results had such a profound impact on Ma that he returned home to China and immediately started his first internet business. After several tries he hit...
Read More »What’s Truly Progressive?
What’s progressive? Pushing power, agency, skills, capital and solutions down to the individual, household, community, enterprise, town and city levels and focusing on doing more with much less. We know what fake-Progressives support: neocon-neoliberal policies and narratives that enable elite privilege, power and Imperial pretensions. So what’s truly progressive? We can start with four things: 1. Focus on developing...
Read More »FX Daily, January 12: Dollar and Yields Ease Further, but Look for Recovery
Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, January 12(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge If you are buying or selling the Swiss Franc the next week is vital to expectations. The pending Supreme court case will shape the next twist and turns of Brexit which in turn will of course affect the pound and also risk sentiments. I expect GBPCHF could easily slip below 1.20 if the Court Case is rejected, this...
Read More »Neo Feudalism and Basic Income
It is difficult to say exactly how, or when, the next collapse will be triggered, but, as SHTFPlan.com’s Mac Slavo notes, of course all the conditions are ripe for it. What can be certain is that the technocrats intent on controlling the future are already engineering the post-collapse society. Many of the Davos elite have been pushing “universal basic income” for all countries across the globe, and are leading...
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