The majority of voters who went to the polls in the Netherlands on Wednesday to express their opinion on the proposed agreement between the EU and Kiev have rejected it. The results of the vote show that 61% of the Dutch are against the agreement to strengthen ties with Ukraine. This is showing that the people […]

It really felt like a day of two-halves today after a lack-lustre Asian session and a weak European morning. The Nikkei was again a talking point (or at least the JPY was) but Shanghai too saw a bit of volatility as we flirted toward the 3k level early afternoon only to recover by the close. […]

Oil was blamed for the majority of today’s equity weakness but there was no new news and the reason was a little baffling! The Nikkei broke the 16k level and then fell another 300 points quite sharply. In late US trading, it lost an additional 150 points and is currently trading around the 15,500 level. […]

I am not a sports fan. I do not even have time for TV. However, I am a student of cyclical patterns. When it came to the Triple Crown, I looked at the cyclical pattern and said it was time and he will win. Well, I did it again. Villanova won the championship in 1985. […]

Fridays NFP in the US did not help support the Nikkei despite the DOW’s strong closing rally. We did see a bounce off of the 16k figure but given that the Chinese markets were closed, holding any gains on the day proved just too lonesome. Late news on Friday about oil production continues to haunt […]

Trump’s latest comments over the weekend regarding the economy are interesting but still fall short of reality. He argues the unemployment number is really in the 20%+ zone, and the number that was provided was deliberately contrived to make politicians look good. That is basically true, but his number is a bit high. He says the […]

Part of the crisis in the EU is the fact that there is an inherent anti-democratic foundation because Brussels has been attempting to force uniformity upon all of Europe which cannot possibly work. To the shock of some, I have stated many times that what made America function was DISCRIMINATION. Every group coming to America — German, Italian, […]

The pension crisis is brewing and the one state that appears to be heading toward a complete bankruptcy is Illinois. Clients should not own ANY debt from Illinois, be it city, municipal, or state. Just get out before the curtain falls. The Illinois Constitution plainly states that pension benefits, once granted, “shall not be diminished or […]

QUESTION:  Dear Marty, We are heading straight into the hurricane, and as you correctly say, there is no way of reversing the trend. At this point, should Hillary (or Cruz for that matter) win the elections, she would have to face and preside over the coming inevitable crash and burn. This would be the only […]

Extremely poor data in Japan (Tankan est -0.7% actual -0.9% Previous +10.8) weighed heavily on stocks closing the Nikkei 3.55% lower and not a great start for the second quarter. Despite the better than expected Chinese Manufacturing report (49.7 versus an estimate of 48.2) it was not enough to turn sentiment around in Asia. It […]