Another week, and another record high for US oil inventories. Oil prices clearly have some way to go, before they return to being based on the fundamentals of supply and demand. Thankfully, the looking-glass world of $100/bbl prices has finally begun to shatter over the past 9 months. And we can expect prices to return to historical […]
Chemicals and the Economy
China exports deflation to the West
Unfortunately, the European Central Bank (ECB) does not read the blog, or yet subscribe to ‘The pH Report’. If it did, it would have been forewarned back in August that a collapse in oil prices was potentially about to provide the catalyst for the arrival of deflation. Instead, as the Minutes of its critical January […]
Japan’s government debt now $100k per person
Debt, debt, glorious debt, Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So follow me, follow, down to the hollow And there let us wallow in glorious debt (apologies to Flanders & Swann) It seems impossible today, but until the year 2000 most Western countries were reducing their debt burdens. Thus President Bill Clinton boasted […]
What a difference a QE programme makes
“What a difference a day makes Twenty-four little hours Brought the sun and the flowers Where there used to be rain” (lyrics, Renee Olstead) What would financial markets do without Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB)? A month ago, they were worrying about deflation arriving in the Eurozone and the […]
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