Archive - May 20, 2014 - Blog entry

Recent developments indicate that North Korea is very quietly beginning to expand its commercial interests. Some of this is due to internal change, but it would seem that much larger geopolitical forces are at work.

Flies are pesky things buzzing around that leave you infuriated and frustrated as you try to swat them; but nine times out of ten you miss the things. Today, it’s flies that are at the center of a row that may be far more than just economic and may damage relations diplomatically-speaking between India and the EU.

Another important caveat to the figures is the ‘elephant in the room’ that is demand from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The PBOC does not declare their monetary gold purchases to the IMF or release the data. However, most market participants accept that they have and are quietly buying significant amounts of gold as part of their foreign exchange diversification programme and as part of their strategic goal to position the yuan as a rival global reserve currency ...

To compare Japanese and European bond yields in order to justify an argument for US bond yields staying historically low once the Federal Reserve is completely out of bond buying is a failed comparison. 

There is no edge.

Just as the Fed started the Taper large banks began ramping up their U.S. Treasury holdings.

Commemorative poster...

Bitcoin's competitive environ is already prompting a race towards negative margin, and despite such VCs have dumped nearly $100 million in 3 companies in as many months. Here's what I see coming down the pike...

European officials are purposely talking the euro lower, but objected when Japan and China did.  See why curency manipulation is different than interest rate manipulation.