Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.
Current levels of equity markets are not only divorced from their underlying economic and business realities but are repeating the madness of crowds that led to the Wall Street crash of 1929—1932. The obvious difference…
Read the articleNormal 0 false false false EN-GB ZH-CN HI Gold and silver tracked higher this week until today when both metals were slammed. At the time of writing gold was off $14 on the day and silver down 62 cents. There is no…
Read the articleThe draft PRA rules complying with Basel 3 regulations have now been issued six months ahead of their implementation to allow banks to adjust for them in time. From now, senior bankers, their lawyers and bank treasury…
Read the articleGold continued to recover some ground this week to consolidate at the $1800 level. In European morning trade this morning, gold was $1805, up $16 from last Friday’s close, but still down about 5% on the year so far.…
Read the articleThe economic consequences of cyclical expansion and contraction of bank credit are the reason for booms and slumps dating back certainly to the Napoleonic Wars and possibly before. Keynesian remedies, which owe their…
Read the articleIn declining volumes, this week gold and silver drifted sideways in the dying days of June. This morning in European trade gold was at $1783, up $3 from last Friday’s close, and silver at $26.11, up ten cents. With the…
Read the articleThe role of commercial banks in the global economy is changing, with lending to governments and their agencies now more important than lending to goods and services industries. It is a trend which is due to continue.…
Read the articleAfter the sharp falls of last week, gold and silver trended sideways to slightly up this week in tight trading ranges and light turnover. By morning trading in the European time zone today, gold had recovered $20 from…
Read the article“The Fed finds itself between a rock and a hard place: either it keeps inflating or the whole confidence-based valuation of financial assets collapses. Either it raises interest rates or the dollar collapses.” There has…
Read the articleThis week saw a massive sell-off, sparked by three factors: the approaching half-year end, the FOMC admitting that inflation may become a problem (but they still don’t think so), and the implementation of the Basel 3…
Read the article