The story of June has certainly been the US -Europe- Asia trade wars which were instigated by Trump administration back at the start of the month. The tariffs of 25% on Steel and 10% on Aluminum likely to affect around 100 Bn worth of goods globally. China and Europe since retaliated, with Europe initiating a […]

Markets really are unsure of what to believe and what to follow! First, they react negatively to the additional tariffs storey and then they bounce because it may have been a false start. Today we saw the Nikkei recover much of the early morning losses to substantiate a positive close. Having seen the index open […]

The Shanghai was holding-in initially and even spent much of the day trading unchanged until late afternoon. Talk that President Trump could be planning additional Trade tariffs coupled with speculation of curbing Chinese tech investment wobbled markets. These rumblings hit all of Asian indices and also DOW futures as the uncertainty over the global trading […]

It was time for the Nikkei to play catch-up having outperformed many of its neighbors over the past week. The Nikkei lost around -0.75% for the day, whilst the badly beaten China core finally saw a bounce. Accompanying this Nikkei decline was a flight into the Yen currency with the result being a print with […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Just to clarify, a continued rate hike in dollars will send Emerging Market debt into chaos and possibly default. Is this both public and private? Thank you. You are a voice in the wilderness PK ANSWER: Oh yes. Both public and private emerging market debt raised money in dollars. A 2% increase […]

Another poor day for the major Chinese markets, yet a continued recovery for Japan. Again, we see Shanghai and the Hang Seng under perform the periphery, as concerns surrounding the US/China trade talks play on investor minds. Both core China markets closed down 1.3% and are lower in late US trading following the continued weak […]

Good to see a healthy rebound in todays Asian markets with strong performances across the board. It still appears however, that the market is not that confident that the US and China have settled for the moment as the Shanghai bounced just +0.3% and Hang Seng +0.75%. It was a different storey for countries with […]

QUESTION: Can you shed any light on the history of money in Portugal. There seems to be scant discussion of this subject. Thank you ANSWER: The first coinage of Portugal really is Roman and it appears to be struck by the first Roman Emperor Octavian/Augustus (27BC-14AD). The location of the mint was the city of Évora. […]

  Markets always seem to be waiting for something and even today it appears they were concerned about the BOJ and then later the US/China Trade Talks. The result for cash was that the market felt that the BOJ offered a helping hand after it today downplayed its previous view on inflation. The subsequent bounce […]

Asian markets did not bode well today, especially after the late sell-off in core US indices. Core Shanghai did attempt an initial rally, but could not find the momentum as Hong Kong sank. Just to close small down was an achievement given the surrounding circumstances. The Hang Seng lost 1% as Tech, Real estate and […]