Valuing gold – USD FMQ Update
There is only one way to value gold, and that is to quantify the expansion of the fiat currency in which it is priced….
Central banks paralysed at the zero bound
Though the Fed would deny it, it is clear from the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that a rise…
The new order emerges
China and Russia have taken the lead in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), seen as a rival organisation to the World Bank…
An Austrian take on inflation
We know that today’s macroeconomists are very confused about inflation, if only because despite all experience they think they can print money and increase…
The new London gold fix and China
This month the physical gold market will undergo radical change when the four London fixing banks hand over the twice-daily fix to the International…
The euro may be riskier than you think
Finance ministers in the Eurozone appear to have had a free lesson in game theory from Professor Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister. At…
Global economic outlook – update
As recently as 9th January I wrote an article suggesting that 2015 would turn out to be the year of the slump. The title…
Unemployment and groupthink
On Friday 6th February the American Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment estimates for January, which being better than the market expected,…
Sovereign Bonds
Today’s obvious mispricing of sovereign bonds is a bonanza for spending politicians and allows over-leveraged banks to build up their capital. This mispricing has…
More euro-tragedy
Despite the uncertainties ahead of the Greek general election, the European Central Bank (ECB) went ahead and announced quantitative easing (QE) of €60bn per…