QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, What comes first? The banking Crisis or the Sovereign Debt Crisis? Thank you for bringing our attention to these events OD ANSWER: The central banks are trapped. They can no longer even hope to sell the bonds they have bought in a vain attempt to stimulate the economy. So government can, in theory, keep their rates […]

QUESTION: Sir, You mentioned in your blog post that money market funds now have to be in government bonds as per SEC ruling. You have said we are going through a sovereign debt crisis which means government bonds are at risk. If I’m trading and my money is now parked as “cash” before I make another […]

More than 75,000 people have signed their names to a petition protesting against the appointment of former European Union leader José Manuel Barroso to the investment bank Goldman Sachs. The outrage demonstrates what I have warned about — the peak in public confidence in government and banks is now in place. Goldman Sachs has gone […]

QUESTION: Marty; Since you wrote that central banks have been net sellers of US Treasuries for the first six months to support their currencies, others are jumping on board and are claiming nobody wants them so buy gold. Would you care to elaborate on this subject? It seems another desperate attempt by the hyperinflationists. Thank […]

Ahead of Jackson Hole a mixed response in Asia with a choppy day for the Nikkei. Initially, the Nikkei saw a sell-off then an attempted rally just after lunch but that was to fizzle-out eventually closing down 1.1%. The JPY remained in a tight range and continues to play with the par level. There remains a […]

With a total debt of almost 250% of GDP, China’s debt problems are well known. Meanwhile, the government is working on resolving the issue by following the playbook of US investment banks and creating securities structures to offload bad debt (remember CDOs?). The slowing economy has caused rising defaults. Analysts suspect the NPLs ratio to […]

Neither the Nikkei nor Hang Seng could decide on a direction today as both flip-flopped between positive and negative territory. Only Shanghai was to remain lower for the whole day closing well above the days lows but still 0.5% weaker. Yesterday we heard that the PBOC added (through 14 day reverse repo’s) cash into the […]

The Nikkei (cash market) had a lot to recover having just returned but recover it did. The early bounce was pulled back then the Friday afternoon recovery took over and we closed just off the days highs (+1.2%). China’s Industrial Output was expected at 6.1% but came in a little short at 6% which did […]

The Nikkei did manage a positive close for the end of the week but finished down just over 2% on the week. The JPY continues to play around the par level until the stock markets decide their direction. Shanghai and Hang Seng closed mixed in thin summer trading in what can only be described as lethargic trade. With […]

In the first six months of the year, the raw data has shown that several central banks have been selling US government bonds in an attempt to support their currencies against the dollar. This has come in part at the request of the United States, exactly as took place back in 1985 at the Plaza […]