Tag Archive: Featured

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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Switzerland Unemployment in October 2020: remained at 3.2percent, seasonally adjusted fallen to 3.3percent

Registered unemployment in October 2020 - According to surveys by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), 149,118 unemployed people were registered with the regional employment centers (RAV) at the end of October 2020, 558 more than in the previous month. The unemployment rate remained at 3.2% in the month under review. Compared to the same month last year, unemployment increased by 47,434 people (+ 46.6%).

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FX Daily, November 9: Markets are not Waiting for Official Closure in the US

The new week has begun with robust risk appetites, driving stocks and stocks higher and sending the dollar broadly lower.  Nearly all the equity markets in the Asia Pacific region gained more than 1%, except Malaysia and Indonesia. 

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COVID-19 situation update for the EU/EEA and the UK, as of 8 November 2020

As of 08 November 2020, 9 063 320 cases have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK: France (1 748 705), Spain (1 328 832), United Kingdom (1 171 441), Italy (902 490), Germany (658 505), Poland (521 640), Belgium (494 073), Czechia (411 220), Netherlands (403 914), Romania (296 999), Portugal (173 540), Austria (146 502), Sweden (146 461), Hungary (109 616), Bulgaria (74 485), Slovakia (73 667), Ireland (64 855), Croatia (64 704), Greece (54 809),...

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“Gold is Money, Everything Else Is Credit” – J.P. Morgan

By now it is probably obvious, even to the most naive of mainstream narrative followers, that we are well past the point of no return on many fronts. Politics, on a national and global level, are never getting back to “normal”, the economy is already knee-deep in a severe recession, while social frictions and public discontent with governments, institutions and all kinds of rulers and central planners is on a sharp and dangerous trajectory. 

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Forget GOAT, Look at GBOAT: The Greatest Bubble Of All Time

So enjoy the GBOAT (greatest bubble of all time) but watch the clock. Sports fans debate who qualifies as GOAT--the greatest of all time: in hoops, Kobe, Jordan, Kareem, Magic; in boxing, Ali, and so forth. What we have today is GBOAT--the greatest bubble of all time That it's GOAT is beyond doubt, as the charts below reveal.

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Good Payrolls Still Say Slowdown

The payroll report for the month of October 2020 was a very good one. This shouldn’t be surprising, perfect BLS publications appear with regularity even during the most challenging of circumstances. Headlines and underneath, everything looked fine last month.

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Dollar Soft as Risk On Sentiment Dominates Ahead of FOMC Decision

Dollar weakness has resumed as risk on sentiment dominates; the US election outcome is starting to take shape. Senate Majority Leader McConnell said passing a stimulus bill is a top priority during the lame duck session; the two day FOMC meeting concludes today with a likely dovish hold; weekly jobless claims will be reported.

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Lockdowners and “the Desire to Dominate”

In many years of lecturing at Mises University, Judge Napolitano has given the same—terrifying—ending to his introductory speech. Not until the horrors of this year did it dawn on me that perhaps his point has its basis in reality. The dear judge often mentions, almost like a joke, the libido dominandi—the desire to dominate, or the will to power, harking back to Augustine of Hippo’s centuries-old writing.

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Shareholders call for new priorities for manager salaries

Shareholders in Switzerland want a rethink on how managers are paid and demand that priorities regarding corporate governance, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) be redefined, a survey has found.

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Here’s Our Historical Analogy Menu: Rome, the USSR or Revolutionary France

The core dynamic is ultimately the loss of social cohesion within the ruling elites and in the social order at large. There's a definite end of days feeling to the euphoria that the world didn't end on November 3. And what better way to celebrate the victory of what passes for normalcy with a manic stock market rally?

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Gold and Silver to Explode Higher Regardless of the US Election Result?

Today we are taking our weekly look at the charts for gold and silver. After what has been the most unusual campaign season for both candidates, election day has finally arrived. Regardless of your political persuasions, both gold and silver look to be setting up for an explosive move higher.

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