Asia saw a mixed session with the Nikkei and Hang Seng lower whilst Shanghai rallied. The mood certainly appears heavy the past few days but more through uncertainty than actual news although we did see Chinese exports decline it did not halt the Shanghai’s performance. The impact of China’s data on European markets was evident […]

The Russian press is now reporting that the Russian Defense Ministry intends to turn the Crimean peninsula into an impregnable fortress. It will be not only a military outpost of Russia in the Black Sea region, but also be able to defend themselves, even when cut off from the mainland. Russia is now deploying a […]

Another weak session for the Nikkei despite a brief run at the psychological 17k mark just ahead of lunch. However, it wasn’t to be and the sentiment from a weak US session finally penetrated what euphoria there was and eventually saw the Nikkei close around 1% lower on the day. In mainland China the Peoples […]

Japan finished on a strong note but it was a disastrous opening (following oil) that it had to spend the rest of the day recovering from but a near 1% better close certainly helped confidence into European trading. Shanghai opened well and continued strongly, eventually closing +1,4% firmer. However, the Hang Seng was anything but […]

If there was ever any question that this is a bond bubble with a 5,000-year low in interest rates, the final bit of insanity just took place. Italy managed to sell its first 50-year bond last week as investors were betting that the European Central Bank might soon add ultra-long debt to its asset-purchase stimulus […]

All indications are now pointing to war between the USA and Russia. It appears the powers that be in Washington fear a Trump victory and he would end nation building. The military needs to start a war now because if Trump were elected, he would not go along with this mess. Even Russian TV is […]

The resistance to the refugees in Germany keeps rising. German mayor Joachim Kebschull of Oersdorf had to be hospitalized after he was severely beaten after expressing support for asylum seekers. He was attacked from behind as he walked to a planning meeting on Thursday night. Michael Richter, the head of a party on the town council of Freital, on […]

Asia started poorly on the back of a weaker oil market until Russia announced it would be willing to cutback its oil production in respect of the OPEC decisions. Oil bounced over 3% on the Asian day reversing the mornings losses. In Japan the Nikkei traded heavy most of the day but recovered off of […]

QUESTION:  Any update or longer term array for the GBP? You said they are attempting to hold the USD’s advance back any chance there’s also attempt to punish the UK with an attack on the currency? LM ANSWER: Of course. Europe has a different mindset when it comes to currency. They view the currency as if […]

Asian markets were marginally better on the back of oil but were awaiting the all important US jobs report after a sleepy opening until the FX market woke everyone up. A “fat-finger trade” as many were reporting it (implying a trader input the wrong price and/or quantity) saw GBP trade down to 1.1378 in seconds only […]