COMMENT: Facing a vicious circle of conflicting demands and priorities, the California Public Employees Retirement System is turning to debt – a risky scheme to borrow billions of dollars in hopes of juicing its investment returns. The California Public Employees Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension trust, benefited greatly from the runup in stocks and […]

QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong, In your blog on ECB vs Fed, you stated in your conclusion; “The ECB is trapped. It cannot raise rates to raise money and it has destroyed its bond market. The only way out is to default on all debt and they will do that by declaring it to be now […]

ASIA: A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been identified in China by scientists. It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say. The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and […]

ASIA: The Academy of Military Medical Sciences, a research institute run by China’s military, received approval to conduct human clinical trials of a new COVID-19 vaccine developed using advanced genetics technology, in a notable breakthrough for China’s quickly developing pharmaceutical industry. The approval comes as other Chinese drugmakers move to expand testing of more traditional […]

QUESTION: Martin, You mentioned in a recent blog post that the ECB, unlike the FED, can go bankrupt. Can you explain further? Not sure where you get the time, energy and resources to research and write all that you do buy it is truly amazing. Regards, M ANSWER: The Federal Reserve does not need permission to […]

  ASIA: Economists don’t see the US and China reaching phase two of the trade deal anytime soon, and have warned that continued tensions and tariff threats could stunt the much-needed economic recovery from the coronavirus shutdowns. Phase one of the deal was signed in January, pausing the trade war that had been raging for […]

ASIA: Indian and Chinese military commanders have agreed to disengage troops from a heavily disputed stretch of their border where a clash last week left 20 Indian soldiers dead, an Indian government source said on Tuesday. Senior military officials from both sides met for several hours on Monday in an attempt to reduce tensions in […]

ASIA: China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has won approval to run a large-scale “Phase 3” clinical trial of its novel coronavirus vaccine candidate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company said on Tuesday. China is seeking to trial potential vaccines overseas because of a lack of new patients at home. China on Tuesday successfully […]

QUESTION: Good morning from Greece Martin!! It will be very interesting to have your comment on Steven’s Roach interview at CNBC about an upcoming dollar collapse due to the ballooning US deficit. My respect for your job, JA ANSWER: This is the typical myopic nonsense. All they ever do is look at the quantity of money […]

ASIA: China has suspended US poultry imports from a plant owned by a US-based meat processor, Tyson Inc, that has been hit by the coronavirus, as authorities struggle to bring an outbreak in Beijing under control. China’s general administration of customs said on its website it had decided on the suspension after the company confirmed […]