QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You are a history buff. Who was the richest person in ancient times? Has there ever been a trillionaire? PD ANSWER: The Roman Emperor Augustus. He is believed to have been worth in current dollar terms nearly $5 trillion. The only other person to have reached the trillion dollars net worth status […]

Interesting that China markets remain heavy even whilst the Nikkei managed a bounce. Both Shanghai and the Hang Seng suffered over 1% losses today. Obviously, President Trump mentioning of an additional $267bn late last week didn’t help matters and that continues to nerve a broader audience again today. We continue to see money leaving the […]

QUESTION: With Bob Woodward joining the plot to overthrow Trump, do you think he can survive? KA ANSWER: No. Woodward says he recorded all his interviews. I do not see him as just making this up with a personal opinion. That does not say what he has been told is true. It is unlikely that […]

QUESTION:  Hello Martin … I follow emerging markets closely and one thing I note is that the size of the sovereign forex-denominated debt burdens are quite small relative to GDP except in the case of Argentina (48%). Everybody else, including Turkey and Indonesia) is 11% or less. How can you have a debt crisis if […]

The uncertainty continued from the US back into Asia this morning resulting in more Asian selling. Although core Chinese markets are light on volume, the concerns of sudden price discovery is the fear running through all emerging markets. We saw a flicker of this today when the Shanghai declined over 1.7%, but the Hang Seng […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Our government here in Argentina has told us we should expect more poverty and there is no hope for the future. Socrates has been amazing on its forecasts on our currency. There are enough of us down here who would sincerely ask would you consider advising Argentina to straighten out our economy […]

For much of the day, Asia was trading flat to a touch weaker. However, the core recovered into the close with renewed confidence that US and China would soon settle Trade uncertainties. Of course, these were only domestic rumours, but the news proved optimistic enough for an afternoon rally. Both Shanghai and the Hang Seng […]

There are way too many cryptocurrencies out there and even if we accept the theory that ONE will survive and become mainstream, what happens to the rest? This is the great unanswered question. You certainly cannot replace the dollar and central banks with thousands of currencies. We tried that once when Andrew Jackson revoked the […]

John McCain’s funeral turned into a political event where career politicians did nothing but used the opportunity to bash Trump. The hatred these people are spinning in the country is going to lead to bloodshed. They are convinced that if they can just keep talking shit about Trump they will get rid of him and […]

The US share markets are being driven up by two main factors. First, institutions have sold the market assuming there would be a major crash. In February at the lows, Goldman Sachs was forecasting that the market could plunge another 25%. In May, Goldman Sachs again was warning that the next crash will be worse because […]