Tag Archive: Featured

Dollar Softens Ahead of CPI Data

Pressure on the dollar has resumed; October CPI data will be the US highlight; US bond market was closed yesterday but yields have eased a bit today. Weekly jobless claims data will be reported; monthly budget statement for October will hold some interest; Mexico is expected to cut rates 25 bp to 4.0%; Peru is expected to keep rates steady at 0.25%.

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Prepare For ‘No-Deal Brexit’ – Own Physical Gold To Protect Your Wealth

The Brexit deadline of December 31st, the date beyond which the transition or implementation period cannot be extended, now looms large and the dreaded “No-Deal” Brexit outcome looks increasingly possible by the day.

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FX Daily, November 12: Nervous Calm in the Capital Markets

There is a nervous calm in the capital markets today.  The equity rally in the Asia Pacific region stalled to end an eight-day rally, though the Nikkei's rally remains intact. 

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Second lockdown in Europe

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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Yes, Virginia, There Is An Alternative, 11 November

On Monday the dollar had a ferocious rally, moving up from 15.87mg gold to 16.77mg and from 1.21g silver to 1.32g. In mainstream terms, the price of gold dropped about a hundred bucks, and the price of silver crashed $2.20.

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Swiss multinationals: global heavyweights in high-risk sectors

Home to big players in the raw materials, food and chemicals industries, Switzerland boasts one of the world’s highest concentrations of multinational headquarters.

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The Prices And Costs Of What Xi Believes He’s Got To Do

It does seem, at first, a huge contradiction. On the one hand, what we know so far of China’s 14th 5-year plan apparently will lean heavily on new technologies not-yet invented to rescue the country’s economy from the pit of de-globalization the eurodollar system had thrown it into years ago.

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Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Covid Vaccines (Because You Can’t Be Bullish Anymore)

In such a highly polarized, politicized environment, is such a scrupulously objective study even possible? Now that we've had the happy-talk about Pfizer's messenger-RNA (mRNA) vaccine (and noted that Pfizer's CEO sold the majority of his shares in the company immediately after the happy-talk), let's dig into messenger-RNA (mRNA) vaccines which are fast approaching regulatory approval. Some people have concluded vaccines are not safe,...

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FX Daily, November 11: Reduced Risk of Negative Policy Rates Lifts Sterling and the Kiwi

Overview:  Investors are trying to figure out the impact of the likelihood of a vaccine. One thing that has happened is that the market perceives less chance that the UK or New Zealand will adopt negative rates, and their respective currencies are adjusting higher.  Meanwhile, the equity rally is continuing in Asia and Europe.

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Raiffeisen pulls out of Swiss Bankers Association

Raiffeisen, Switzerland’s third-largest banking group, says it will leave the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) at the end of March 2021. It intends to represent its interests independently.

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Dollar Consolidates, Weakness to Resume

Despite rising infections worldwide, the virus news stream has turned positive; the dollar is consolidating its gains today. With the 10-year yield rising to near 1.0%, US financial conditions are tightening; the Fed released its Financial Stability report yesterday and it pulled no punches; with the Fed media embargo over, many officials will speak today.

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Vaccine and Split Government

The interplay of a vaccine-driven reflation rally and the (likely) split government in the US are emerging as the driving themes for markets in the months ahead.  We think reflation will win out in the end, but it could manifest itself differently this time around.

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Gold Is Money – Everything Else Is Credit – J.P. Morgan – Part II

Rafi Farber, pen name Austrolib, is the publisher of The End Game Investor, a daily market commentary written from an Austrian economics perspective focusing on precious metals, the Comex, and monetary analysis. His work is followed by leaders in the precious metals industry including Eric Sprott. He also writes a weekly column on the gaming industry at CalvinAyre.

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FX Daily, November 10: Markets Remain Unsettled

Overview: Pfizer's vaccine announcement eclipsed the US election as the key market driver. It spurred the unwinding of Covid trades in terms of sectors and yields.  Emerging market currencies and the majors that benefit from world growth outperformed the perceived safe-havens, like the yen and the Swiss franc.

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House View, November 2020

The upsurge in covid-19 cases will likely hurt global economic prospects in the current quarter. With a Democrat 'blue wave' failing materialise in the US elections, hopes of a substantial spending bill have faded and there is risk that US household incomes suffer as existing support measures fade. In the meantime, covid-19 infections continue surge in the US. 

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Swiss investors still leaning heavily on fossil fuels

The Swiss financial market invests too much in oil and coal production, according to a review of nearly 200 financial institutions.

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How Much Taxes Will Retirees Owe on Their Retirement Income

Planning for retirement. We spend most of our working career preparing for it, saving for it, covering every contingency. When you finally wave goodbye to the company, you’re ready for all that planning to take over. But does your planning take into account the taxes you’ll have to pay on your retirement income? It’s one of the biggest retirement planning mistakes people make.

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No Wonder the Super-Rich Love Inflation

Asset inflation benefits the super-rich more than anyone else because they own the vast majority of these assets. With the reflation euphoria running full blast, maybe central banks will finally get all that inflation they've been pining for. So let's ask cui bono--who will benefit from inflation?

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Election 2020: Choking on the Political Red and Blue Pills

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Presidential election 2020 is the same as every other, except in the ways it isn’t. Allow me to expand on this. What is the same? The purpose of all elections is to allow a band of people called the state to legitimize their claim of control over everyone and everything within a given jurisdiction.

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Covid, November 10: no time to relax, says minister as 3-day Swiss case number returns to 17,000

On 9 November 2020, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported 17,309 new laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases over 72 hours, bringing the total to 229,222.

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