Strong economic data in China (PMI released at 52.4) supported an encouraging rally for the Shanghai after recent regional losses. The index ,managed a 0.85% rally just as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng large cap’s took a hit (-0.6%). The Nikkei was closed today for Culture Day national holidays. The Yen, however, was trading and continued […]

An extremely quiet start to what has potential to be an explosive week. Asia was the first market to react to the FBI story that broke over the weekend and after the initial wobble all exchanges bounced to close moderately under Fridays closes. Data released today was not so promising with Industrial Output and Retails […]

  The Nikkei continued its march despite the weakness seen in other Asian markets as currency continues to be the counterbalance. In late morning trade we did see a retracement back towards unchanged level but that was short-lived and as soon as the afternoon session resumed trading the buyers lifted it again and we closed […]

Energy prices were hit quite quickly after a significant bounce upon the EIA news and that played out overnight in Asia. Energy stocks dragged the Hang Seng lower again today with the index closing down around 0.8% on the day. In Japan BOJ governor, Kuroda, said that he would not be surprised if long term […]

The Italian Prime Minister is calling for immediate help with the refugees. The EU refugee crisis is becoming a huge nightmare and Brussels refuses to simply admit it has made a bad decision. Italy is overwhelmed by the influx of refugees and is now calling for a fresh review. Italy cannot cope with a similar number of […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong: I hope you are well. I ask you: 1. What were the contributions to the economy and international trade, of the great bankers of the modern history, such as, Medici, Fugger, Welser, Berenberg, Rothschild and Morgan? I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Sincerely, J.E.M.V. ANSWER:The contribution was […]

Merkel wants to regulate real estate loans in Germany. The Federal Government is planning to implement extensive regulations on real estate loans. Among other things, debtors will be required under certain circumstances to repay their loans within a given period. The Federal Government said on Monday that the draft law should be followed by recommendations […]

Yes, the Hang Seng lost 1% and Shanghai was lower by 0.5% but the volatility was in the Nikkei that managed to reverse the opening trend with a healthy bounce. Many traders tell us they feel something is hovering in the wings and are therefore taking very few overnight positions! However, the day was generally […]

A healthy start to the final full week of October with promising data aiding markets globally. In Japan we saw better than expected September Exports (6.9% against a forecasted 10.4%) lifted the Nikkei in afternoon trade to close up 0.3% on the day. This was also supported by the October PMI which came in at […]

Greek Prime Minister Alexis  has come out today and bluntly warned that failure to agree on a debt restructuring for Greece would push it into a perpetual spiral of borrowing from Europe. But it is actually much worse. Greece is being persecuted because its old debt was converted to euros and that made the debt increase. These […]