It was almost exactly 10 years ago that then Citibank boss, Chuck Prince, unintentionally highlighted the approach of the subprime crisis with his comment that: ‘We are not scared. We are not panicked. We are not rattled. Our team has been through this before.’ We are ’still dancing’.” On Friday JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, […]
Chemicals and the Economy
“Exponentially rapidly rising or falling markets usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways”
Companies and investors have some big decisions ahead of them as we start the second half of the year. They can be summed up in one super-critical question: “Do they believe that global reflation is finally now underway?” The arguments in favour of this analysis were given last week by European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi: […]
Metastable markets at risk from impact of US, UK political stalemate
We are living in very uncertain times, where the only certainty is that there is no “business as usual” option for the future. One sign of this is that the extraordinary has become ordinary : □ The FBI appear convinced Russia’s government targeted last year’s US elections: US President Trump and his former FBI head […]
Chemical industry downturn challenges stock market optimism
Stock markets used to be a reliable indicator for the global economy, and for national economies. But that was before the central banks started targeting them as part of their stimulus programmes. They have increased debt levels by around $30tn since the start of the Crisis in 2008, and much of this money has gone […]
UK consumers face difficult times as Brexit unwinds the housing bubble, and financial services de-cluster out of London
Brexit negotiations are likely to prove a very uncomfortable ride for UK consumers as Russell Napier of Eric, the online research platform, warned last week: □ “Public sector debt remains at near-historic highs (in peace time!) and for the first time this public sector debt comes with a private sector bubble □ Credit card debt […]
London housing market hit by Brexit, China’s capital controls
London’s housing market was always going to have a difficult 2017. As I noted 2 years ago, developers were planning 54,000 new luxury homes at prices of £1m+ ($1.25m) in central London, which would mainly start to flood onto the market this year. They weren’t bothered by the fact that only 3900 homes were sold […]
Chemical industry flags rising risk of global recession in 2017, with Trump set to “clear the decks” at the start of his first term
The chemical industry is the best leading indicator that we have for the global economy. It has an excellent correlation with IMF data, and also benefits from the fact it has no “political bias”. It simply tells us what is happening in real-time in the world’s 3rd largest industry. Sadly, the news is not good. […]
Interest rate and US$ surge mark start of the Great Reckoning
The bond market vigilantes are back. And they clearly don’t like what they are seeing. That is the clear message from the charts above, showing movements in 10 year government bond interest rates for the major economies, plus their exchange rate against the US$ and the value of the US$ Index: As I warned […]
S&P 500 volatility close to 43-year lows as uncertainty rises
Something very strange is happening in US stock markets, as the above chart highlights: It shows weekly (blue line) and average quarterly (red line) volatility in the US S&P 500 Index since 1928 Both are very close to 43-year lows, going back to September 1973, at 1.7% and 1.6% respectively This seems quite […]
Budgeting for the Great Reckoning
One thing is certain about the 2017 – 2019 Budget period. “Business as usual” is the least likely Scenario to occur. The IMF chart above highlights the key issue: for the past 5 years, all its forecasts of a return to “normal” levels of growth have proved over-optimistic: Back in 2011, the IMF was […]
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