COMMENT: Marty; I get these emails about gold and have to wonder how people can keep preaching the same thing for decades and never be correct once. Now they say in a very simplistic manner the politicians argued that endless trade deficits were immaterial because U.S. exceptionalism allowed America to do what it wanted. If foreign […]
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QUESTION: I read a credible theory recently about China taking over US as the top superpower via economic pressures. Namely by replacing the US dollar with the Yuan as the standard currency for international trade. This shift is (supposedly) being enacted through 1) increased control over Developing countries through international lending from the New Development […]
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Do you believe in portfolio diversification? ANSWER: No not really. I see no point in putting money in something you know will be a loss. Diversification within a sector is one thing. But buying government bonds when rates are at a 5,000 year low and governments are in trouble around the […]
In Asia we saw a similar picture to yesterdays market movers with Shanghai and the Hang Seng both closing higher whilst the Nikkei, ASX, KOPSI and SENSEX all closed lower. The SENSEX lost the most ground today (-1.4%) as it continues to add to its recent losing streak, making this its seventh day in a […]
The late headline from North Korea yesterday spooked Stocks, Gold and Treasuries but had broadly lost most of that by the end of the Asian time zone. Both the KOPSI and Nikkei lost around -0.3% on the day with exporters and tech suffering in the afternoon session. US indices did manage to recover much […]
As you would expect the topic conversation this morning has been the German election and the re-election of Angela Merkel. The highlight was always going to be the percentages of the peripheral parties and that is what we saw. Markel’s CDU party was the big loser yet retained victory for the fourth time. This result […]
The Australian ASX was probably over-sold yesterday and therefore stood as the only core that performed today. Closing up +0.5% was a healthy recovery after yesterdays 1% decline. China’s downgrade put a small dent in confidence for the cash markets which took the Hang Seng down -0.8% while the Shanghai closed with just small loss. […]
QUESTION: I notice you often cite the *Plaza Accord* when on the topic of central bank currency manipulation. That accord was signed in 1985 with an aim to devalue the USD. Could you write a little on the *Louvre Accord” signed just two years later, in 1987, with an aim to reverse the unwanted effects […]
It is probably no surprise that markets are quiet ahead of the Federal Reserve announcement which is probably about to dictate the next chapter in the storey. Both the Shanghai and Hang Seng closed marginally firmer (+0.3%) on the day but added to the Asian mix is the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting also […]
