Tag Archive: COVID

Sentiment Remains Fragile

2021-11-29

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2021-11-29

Overview: The fire that burnt through the capital markets before the weekend, triggered by the new Covid mutation, burned itself out in the Asian Pacific equity trading earlier today. A semblance of stability, albeit fragile and tentative, has emerged. Europe's Stoxx 600 is up about 1%, led by real estate, information technology, and energy.  US index futures are trading higher, with the NASDAQ leading.  Benchmark 10-year yields are firmer.  The US...

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Jobs (US) and Inflation (EMU) Highlight the Week Ahead

2021-11-27

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2021-11-27

The new covid variant and quick imposition of travel restrictions on several countries in southern Africa have injected a new dynamic into the mix.

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Covid Strikes Back

2021-11-26

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2021-11-26

Overview: Concerns that a new mutation of the Covid virus has shaken the capital markets.  Equities are off hard, and bonds have rallied.  In the foreign exchange market, the Japanese yen and Swiss franc have rallied.  While there may be a safe haven bid, there also appears to be an unwinding of positions that require the buying back of the funding currencies, which is also lifting the euro.  The currencies levered from growth, the dollar-bloc and...

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Big Week Begins Slowly

2021-10-25

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2021-10-25

Overview:  The global capital markets give little indication of the important economic and earnings data that lie ahead this week.  There is an eerie calm. Equities in Asia were mixed.  Japan and Hong Kong, and most small bourses were lower.  Last week, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained almost 0.9%. Europe's Stoxx 600 is little changed after rising about 0.5% last week. US futures are firm.  The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials reached...

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Far Longer And Deeper Than Just The Past Few Months

2021-10-20

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2021-10-20

Hurricane Ida swept up the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the Louisiana coastline on August 29. The storm would continue to wreak havoc even as it weakened the further inland it traversed. By September 1 and 2, the system was still causing damage and disruption into the Northeast of the United States.

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Weekly Market Pulse: Perception vs Reality

2021-10-18

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2021-10-18

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Some see the cup as half empty. Some see the cup as half full. I see the cup as too large.

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Hard to Be Sterling

2021-09-29

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2021-09-29

Overview: Energy prices pulled back late yesterday, but it offered little reprieve to the bond market where the 10-year benchmark yields in the US, UK, Sweden, and Switzerland reached new three-month highs.  November WTI traded to almost $76.70 before reversing lower and leaving a potentially bearish shooting star candlestick in its wake. 

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Weekly Market Pulse: Time For A Taper Tantrum?

2021-09-20

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2021-09-20

The Fed meets this week and is widely expected to say that it is talking about maybe reducing bond purchases sometime later this year or maybe next year or at least, someday. Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at which he’ll tell us that markets have nothing to worry about because even if they taper QE, interest rates aren’t going up for a long, long time.

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Yesterday’s Dollar Recovery Stalls

2021-08-05

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2021-08-05

Overview: US interest rates and the dollar turned higher following comments by the Fed's Vice Chairman Clarida, who appeared to throw his lot with the more hawkish members. The dollar recovered from weakness that had seen it fall to almost JPY108.70, its lowest level since late May, and lifted the euro to $1.19. 

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Greenback Softens amid Stronger Risk Appetites to Start August

2021-08-02

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2021-08-02

Overview: Risk appetites snap back after easing in the waning hours last month. The MSCI Asia Pacific equities jumped back after dropping 1.8% last week for the second week in a row. Japan's Topix and China's CSI 300 rose by more than 2%, and Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia gained more than 1%. 

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Freedom Is Not Free You Have To Fight For It, The People Will Demand Decentralization

2021-07-26

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2021-07-26

Claudio begins his discussion with him taking a trip from Switzerland to Spain. On his travels he realized that the borders are open for cars and people were not asked for proof of vaccination. The people will begin to come together when they cannot function in everyday life because of inflation. People will look for decentralization because the globalist system does not work for the people.  Freedom is not free you have to fight for it.

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FX Daily, June 30: The Greenback is Firm into Quarter-End

2021-06-30

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2021-06-30

The dollar is finishing the quarter on firm footing, gaining against most of the major currencies today. The euro is straddling the $1.1900 area, having begun the month above $1.22. Sterling has tested the $1.38 area. It had traded at a three-year high near $1.4250 at the start of the month.

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Three Things About Today’s UST Sell-off, Beginning With Fedwire

2021-02-28

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2021-02-28

UST Yield Curve, 1990
Three relatively quick observations surrounding today’s UST selloff.1. The intensity. Reflation is the underlying short run basis, but there is ample reason to suspect quite a bit more than that alone given the unexpected interruption in Fedwire yesterday.

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Second lockdown in Europe

2020-11-12

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2020-11-12

As the long-awaited “second wave” of the corona pandemic sweeps through Europe, another round of severe restrictions, travel bans and rules that prevent the proper function of international business and trade threatens to once again disrupt all kinds of sectors, including the gold industry. 

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It Was Bad In The Other Sense, So Now What?

2020-08-18

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2020-08-18

Japan Real GDP, 2008-2020
According to the latest figures, Japan has tallied 56,074 total coronavirus cases since the outbreak began, leading to the death of an estimated 1,103 Japanese citizens. Out of a total population north of 125 million, it’s hugely incongruous.

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War on poverty, or just war on the poor?

2020-07-17

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2020-07-17

New State and Federal Jobless Claims, March - June 2020
As the dust is now begging to settle, both from the heights of the COVID panic and from the riots that shook the western world, we are starting to get an idea about where we stand after this unprecedented and tumultuous time.

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