QUESTION: Hi Marty. You mentioned in the blog that all European sovereign debt may end up being converted into perpetual bonds. Will it be through debt mutualization or will each country have each own Consol? Could you please elaborate on how this conversion would affect pension funds, banks, social security and individual investors? Knowing that the […]

ASIA: Donald Trump has renewed his threat to cut ties with China, a day after his diplomats held high-level talks with Beijing and his top US trade negotiator said severing the trade relationship was not a viable option. The US response came as Washington questioned China’s credibility on accurately reporting the new Covid-19 cluster in […]

ASIA: China’s Oppo canceled the live online launch of its flagship smartphone in India on Wednesday after a border clash between the two countries that has renewed calls from local Indian trader groups to boycott Chinese goods. The clashes risk souring sentiment for big Chinese investors who were eyeing the Indian market and already faced […]

QUESTION: Do you think the Fed will venture into capping the long-term rates as they did during World War II? JH ANSWER:  There is much talk that the Fed will go into yield-curve control in the near future. Some expect that if the Fed does employ yield-curve controls, they expect that yields would be capped […]

ASIA: India has conveyed to China the fact that the deadly clash in eastern Ladakh on Monday night will have “a serious impact” on relations between the two countries. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar shared this with his counterpart in Beijing in a phone conversation today. Both sides agreed not to take “any action to escalate […]

ASIA: Beijing has reported 106 new infections in the last five days. The city raised its alert level from Level 3 to Level 2 — the highest alert being Level 1 — the Beijing government’s Deputy Secretary Chen Bei announced in a press conference Tuesday night. Fearing the possibility of another outbreak, Beijing has imposed […]

ASIA: Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city’s largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak. The Chinese capital reported 36 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 79 since a […]

ASIA: Twitter has removed more than 170,000 accounts from its platform after the social media site found state-linked influence campaigns from China focusing on Hong Kong protests, Covid-19, and the US protests in relation to George Floyd. The company announced on Thursday that 23,750 core accounts, and 150,000 “amplifier” accounts that boosted the content posted […]

Illinois became the first entity to borrow from the Fed’s new facility known as the “Municipal Liquidity Facility” for state and local governments. The Fed’s legal authority lies in section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. This authorizes the Fed to directly lend to “individuals, partnerships and corporations” in “unusual and exigent circumstances.” Section 13(3) […]

ASIA: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday whether Australia would keep taking hits on exports from major trading partner China. “We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I’m never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it […]