The hoard of Athenian Owl tetradrachms has revealed something incredibly important. The seminal work of Chester Starr (Athenian Coinage) identified five groups of designs covering the period 480-407BC. While Starr examined known coins in museums and collections, he did show photographs and attributed them to a declining quality of execution based upon the fact that […]

The key weekend headline for all markets was the agreement between China and the USA on a temporary suspension of further trade tariffs. Although this is only for a period of 90-days, it does offer an ease of tension which will be much enjoyed by the markets. Almost all core Asian indices opened around 2% […]

After an initial morning wobble, Asian stocks managed some positive momentum to close the day on a healthy note. The Shanghai suffered from low volume, but the final hours trading closed on the days high gaining +0.81%. The Hang Seng hit its days high late morning and then drifted back to close just +0.21% firmer. […]

QUESTION: What mechanism prevents banks from creating fraudulent electronic deposits of currency? As an IT systems admin, I have the ability to add / subtract / adjust ERP systems inventory / costing outside the normal users ability. I could add widgets to the system at will, but fraud can’t be sustained very long, as the […]

The Shanghai index managed to hold onto gains for longer than the Hang Seng, but eventually both closed negative. Talk is, that a US/China Trade deal would be forthcoming but with a distinct lack of detail and a possible misinterpretation by markets. Core Shanghai reacted most with a 1.3% decline, while Hong Kong held in […]

  Most people have little idea WHY big money was targeting buying farmland in Canada, USA, and Australia. It was more than just Chinese investment. With interest rates down to negative, capital has been looking for returns. They were buying farmland and then renting it out generally for 5%. This created what many call the […]

Asian markets were buoyant in the hope the meeting between USA and China over the next few days would prove fruitful. Early losses were quickly reversed leading to 1% gains for both Shanghai and the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices. The Nikkei gained strength throughout the day, but should be viewed together with a weakening […]

Even though the US market lost a little of Mondays gains into the close, the mood in Asia still appeared reasonably constructive ahead of any trade talks. The Hang Seng was a little more confident as it responded well to rebounding tech values, but even then only managed a near unchanged close. Shanghai opened well […]

It feels as though this is the week that the markets have been building for all year! Having heard late yesterday that the EU 27 had accepted the BREXIT terms it is now up to Parliament to vote on the deal. This vote is expected, though not scheduled, for December 12th so we can expect […]

The IMF has recommended that all Central banks should issue their own cryptocurrencies. Indeed, they are looking at using Block Chain to keep track of taxes and to enforce negative interest rates with cryptocurrencies which would allow them to impose negative interest rates whenever necessary. With adopting cryptocurrencies that governments would control, we will come one step closer to losing all […]