COMMENT: I live on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic in a little town which is one of the kite and wind surfing spots in the world …. while driving home last month in one of those beautiful weather fluctuations we experience here, I watched the sky turn from yellow and blue to magenta and […]

Yesterdays strong US close encouraged a positive performance for Asia with even Asian dealers questioning whether the DOW is close 2016 over the psychological 20k level. This positive momentum certainly helped sentiment in todays market with the Shanghai index closing up 1.15%. Currency is having a large impact on equity markets as the US Dollar […]

Even with much of core Asia selling-off Japan managed a small positive return aided by the ever weakening currency. There was a similar picture painted in China where the Shanghai exchange managed a small gain but to the detriment of the Yuan. The PBOC set the currency at its weakest in eight years at 6.9508 […]

The key conversation was always going to be surrounding the Federal Reserve rate decision today despite any data releases. In Japan we saw the release of the Tankan (sentiment survey) which, at 10, repeated the same level as previous release as the Nikkei closed almost unchanged on the day. The Hang Seng was a similar […]

The Fed raised the interest rate a quarter-point increase in the discount, or primary credit, rate, from 1 percent to 1.25 percent, and moved its target range from a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent to 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent. The overnight funds rate currently sits at 0.41 percent. The Fed was citing the […]

This week will all be about the Federal Reserve and the outlook for rates into next. The strip is pricing in additional moves already but it is the long end that is having a worrying impact on many dealers. Obviously, the recent curve movement is music for the (US) banks and insurance companies but will […]

Diocletian Edict Diocletian (284 – 305 AD) The following is the preamble to the Edict of Diocletian: The Emperor Caesar Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian, dutiful, blessed, unconquered Augustus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, conqueror of the Germans 6 times, conqueror of the Sarmatians 4 times, conqueror of the Persians 2 times, conqueror of the […]

More strong Japanese data pushed the Yen lower which in turn saw a 1% rally in the Nikkei, exporters and Japan Oil Exploration leading the spike. Obviously, tomorrows US numbers will dictate trading Friday but then we do have the Italian vote Sunday and ECB next week. China also had encouraging data pushing the Shanghai […]

Been a crazy day for many markets today but stocks have not really been one of them! Oil was the crazy sector today following yesterdays 7% price decline today we saw a healthy 9% appreciation on news OPEC plans a production cut. However, that was not until late European trading so lets just recap Asia […]

The Venezuelean hyperinflation is the direct result of what happens when the general population loses all confidence in the government. The current hyperinflation is reminiscent of Germany’s hyperinflation following World War I, which was also the result of a Communist Revolution and the overthrow of the government giving birth to the Weimar Republic.  Venezuela’s currency […]