One of the key themes I try to communicate to investors is that in the current environment, you simply can’t understand markets if you don’t understand geopolitics. This has always been the case to a certain extent, but it’s arguably more true today than ever. The Saudis, for instance, are wielding
“Fear and greed [used to be] a continuum, allowing for an ebb and flow with continuous price discovery and availability,” Bloomberg’s Richard Breslow wrote on Thursday. “What we have now is pedal to the metal front-running of central banks and the nagging fear that when the fun ends there won’t be a
It’s a perfect storm. An abysmal NFP print in the US, a worsening outlook for global growth, jitters over whether Britain will vote to leave the EU, and billionaires effectively coming out of retirement to buy gold and make “a bunch of big bearish bets.” And then there’s the lingering threat that Ch
It really shouldn’t come as any surprise to market watchers that billionaire, philanthropist, Democratic donor, and breaker of the British pound George Soros has turned bearish on a few things. After all, Soros’ views on the prospects for China have been well known for months. Earlier this year, Sor
Investors and traders alike often find it difficult to get of the way when freight trains are barreling down on them. Even when conductors like Carl Icahn have been blowing the horn as loud as they can for more than a year. Sometimes, you can't blame them (them being the homegamers). Retail, for ins
"No explanation was offered as to how any of these targets could be realistically achieved within their timeframe." Or any explanation at all really. The quote excerpted above from Foreign Policy references Saudi Arabia and the kingdom's "Vision 2030" which, if you’ve closely followed Ryadh's descen
Remember last year, when Jamie Dimon jumped on the bond market liquidity bandwagon and warned that harrowing bouts of flash crashing madness like what unfolded in October of 2014 with USTs were likely to happen with increased frequency? As a reminder, here's what he said: "Treasury markets were quit
Last month, in a brilliant presentation, Citi’s Matt King outlined “the polarization principle” and how it relates to politics, the economy, and markets. The idea is that as interconnectedness and correlations increase, heterogeneity naturally decreases. When that happens, the incidence of extreme o
Late last month in “Pondering A Slow Growth World: Have We Entered A New Era?” we questioned whether perhaps policymakers are effectively pushing on a string. That is, is it possible that something short-circuited post-crisis and, as WTO chief economist Robert Koopman put it last year, “that the tim
