The political elites do not like Trump or ANY outsider. Now, top Republican Party officials are actually discussing the possibility of a brokered convention — a DICTATORSHIP — where the choice of the people will have no input. Since Trump is leading in double digits against all career politicians, the only way for Washington and the press to maintain their power […]

Japan opened weak following the poor close in the Dow yesterday especially having seen triple digit gains at one stage. Given that Hang Seng and Shanghai were both under pressure all day it was not a surprise all markets closed negative. All European indices opened lower and it was only the DAX (aided by the […]

Hardly a day to write about with Asian equities not really showing any indications of a direction, let alone a story, for the day. All core indices closed +/- 0.5%; even to fabricate a rumour would constitute just that — a fabrication! The European session was pretty much the same without much away from core DAX, and CAC […]

As of January 1, 2016, Switzerland is handing over the names of everyone who has anything stored in its Swiss freeport customs warehouses. For decades, people have stored precious metals and art in Swiss custom ports — tax-free — as long as they did not take it into Switzerland. Now any hope on trusting Switzerland is totally […]

China’s trade surplus did not live up to expectations, and as a result, we saw weaker prices across all major Asian indices. Shanghai and HSI were both down around 1.5% whilst the Nikkei lost only 1%. The Nikkei did attempt to lead the pack when Q3 GDP saw a small recovery, but when the mood within […]

QUESTION: Why do you do not see that money must be backed by something tangible? ANSWER: That is an antiquated barter perspective; you are blind to reality. Your proposition is that only gold has value and you yourself are worthless. This idea of fiat money is just out of line with reality. The traditional definition […]

The Investor level of Socrates is live by invitation only. Invitations can be requested at www.ask-socrates.com. This is ONLY the Investor level for the average person without reversals and arrays, which will be provided in the Trader level beginning January 1. Here you have the choice of selecting a 30-day trial for $10 dollars, which […]

Asia saw a mixed session with prices marginally lower, but not too much to write home about. It was not until Europe opened that we started to see a pick-up in volatility that provided dealers with something to talk about. The oil and energies market provided the discussion point with TWI, Brent, and Nat-Gas all […]

Many articles are highlighting the censorship of the press in the International New York Times. An article criticizing Thailand’s generals for shooting the economy in the foot was seen in all print editions expect Thailand, where they displayed a blank space to let everyone know something had been removed ­– censorship. What was NOT reported in the West […]

Politics in France are changing and the shift underway is ahead of the 2017 presidential elections. Today, France’s far-right National Front won almost 30% of the vote. Between the high taxes, abuse of socialists who have driven the economy into the ground (as evident by the share market decline when everyone else had been making […]