A wider perspective.

Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.

Why free trade is officially dead

G20 Finance ministers meeting in Baden Baden last weekend agreed, on America’s insistence, to drop the long-standing commitment to free trade from the final communiqué. It is hard to know to what extent America’s…

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Market Report: Turning the corner

The long-awaited event of the week was the Fed raising the Fed funds rate by ¼%. Everyone knew it was coming, and what it would be. The market effect was a strong dollar ahead of the event, and weak precious metals.…

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Can state spending ever be cut?

President Trump was elected on several promises, including one that he would fund tax cuts by cutting public spending. Cynics might note that his first action was to increase spending on the military by $54bn, the…

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Market Report: Waiting on the Fed

Gold and silver continued to decline over the week, along with base metals and oil. Gold fell $40 from last Friday’s close to $1195, and silver by 112 cents to $16.85 in early European trade this morning (Friday). The…

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The fateful date

Caesar: What sayest thou to me now? Speak once again. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. Caesar: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. This famous advice, according to Shakespeare, was ignored with fatal…

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