QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong Firstly, thank you for your insights and forecasting. I am not really in a position to properly capitalize on them, but all information is useful. The Labour government of New Zealand is conducting a taxation review. They have called for submissions and although I realize mine won’t make a jot of […]

A solid day for Asia with the broad based rally carrying all markets higher. Confidence gained from strong earnings, better data than US markets had expected and energy prices rallying over 3% all helped to produce a positive day. The Nikkei gave-up the mornings highs and drifted in afternoon trade but still gained +0.15% for […]

The upper house in Britain has overruled the people trying to keep the UK in the EU which would destroy the British economy. The upper House of Parliament backed calls to remain in the EU customs union after Brexit. The House of Lords voted 348 to 225 to amend the government’s EU Withdrawal Bill in a real […]

While the majority keep bashing the Federal Reserve, other central banks seem to escape any criticism. The European Central Bank under Mario Draghi has engaged in what history will call the Great Monetary Experiment of the 21st Century – the daring experiment of negative interest rates. A look behind the scenes reveals that this experiment has […]

Again we saw Chinese equity markets suffer even after the better than forecast trade data. The 6.8% release was better than the 6.7% expected but, because March slowed compared to Jan and February this hit confidence in afternoon trading. The morning session had seen positive prints but could not hold the prices in late trading. […]

The Most Profitable Canal of the 19th Century Today is a Tourist Cruise Besides the speculative bubble that resulted in the Panic of 1825 involving the imaginary country of Poyais, when such a bubble unfolds, there is often a contagion. The events that led to the Panic of 1825 also resulted in the Canal Bubble, […]

Asia has been predominantly better bid but for the Shanghai index. Here we saw values drift in afternoon trading to close on its low (-0.6%). Trade numbers were surprisingly poor for China posting a near $5bn deficit. The Hang Seng dipped with it, but to be fair was plus or minus small all day. The […]

    Mario Draghi is by no means going to stop his Quantitative Easing program. All my sources behind the curtain express fear what will happen when Draghi leaves. Who will buy the government debt and who will keep subsidizing the governments of the Eurozone? Draghi has not merely declined to end Quantitative Easing, he has […]

  QUESTION: Marty; You so casually mentioned that Britain closed the share market during World War I and that such a risk exists in Europe. Can you elaborate on this at all? Thank you for all you contribute to society OD ANSWER: The entire period leading into World War I was a period of extreme socialism. […]

There have been persistent rumblings behind the curtain that the ECB has been “frowning” on anyone taking short positions on the Euro. They have already outlawed shorting government bonds and they are trying to wrestle the market in the Euro from London to bring it within their power and control. Up until now, they have […]