investment

Detlev Schlichter: Forward Guidance? – Nonsense! Central bankers have no choice.

"This was the first policy meeting under new Bank of England governor Mark Carney, the ‘most talented central banker of his generation’ to some, the most overpaid bureaucrat in the world to others. But credit where credit is due. Carney is a marketing genius. Not only when it comes to marketing himself, but also when it comes to selling policy paralysis as strategy. Never before has the phrase 'What can we do? We can only stick to what we have done for years.', so effectively been presented as at the BoE’s press conference yesterday. It is now called ‘guidance’, and it evidently requires a specific skill-set." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: Forward Guidance? – Nonsense! Central bankers have no choice.

Now They Tell Us: China Debt Levels ‘Unknown’

"A senior Chinese official said on Friday that the government did not know precisely know how much debt local governments had built up and warned that it could be more than previous estimates. Estimates of local government debt range from Standard Chartered's 15 percent of the country's GDP at end-2012 to Credit Suisse's 36 percent. Fitch put the figure at 25 percent when it downgraded China's sovereign debt rating in April. Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said China had not released official figures since a 2010 auditing report that put local government debt at 10.7 trillion yuan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNow They Tell Us: China Debt Levels ‘Unknown’

Dot-Coms and Bonds Aren’t So Different after All

"In the late 1990s, stocks were the asset du jour. Every single year saw inflows and, at the time, it was the single biggest influx of investor cash into any asset class ever. That massive tsunami of investor dollars drove dot-coms to ridiculous valuations, setting the stage for the epic crash that followed. But guess what? It pales in comparison to the amount of cash that has poured into bond funds in the past few years. A stunning $1.15 trillion in investor money flowed into bond funds between 2009 and April 2013. Not one year showed an outflow from bonds. One could argue the bond bubble is at least 30 percent bigger than the late-1990s stock-market bubble." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDot-Coms and Bonds Aren’t So Different after All

Singapore opens world’s first physical precious metals exchange

"In yet another attempt to encourage gold trading in the country, Singapore's SGPMX, (Singapore Precious Metals Exchange) on Wednesday launched the world's first physical precious metals exchange with peer-to-peer bullion trading capabilities integrated into the trading platform. As part of the launch, SGPMX also announces the entry into an MOU with Certis CISCO which will act as the custodian for bullion storage. The platform which will operate 24/7 will allow investors and traders to buy and sell physical gold for as little as $1,000. After they have bought it, the exchange will also provide facilities to store the gold with Certis Cisco Singapore." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSingapore opens world’s first physical precious metals exchange

The Next American Revolution

"The next American Revolution will not be an event, it will be a process. Springtime for the Savior State/cartel-capitalism partnership will be brief, and by 2018-19 all the systemic flaws and disruptive trends will reassert themselves with renewed vigor. The entire current model of governance, social order and the economy will be revolutionized not by overthrow but by the process of irrelevance. The new system will be better, more humane, more flexible, more transparent, with more opportunity, for it will be everything the current corrupt, sclerotic, parasitic and exploitive system is not." Continue reading →

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Attractively Priced Real Estate, Courtesy of Pablo Escobar

"Colombia's economy has prospered: GDP growth has been strong; the average Colombian's income has doubled in less than a decade; and BusinessWeek even called Colombia 'the most extreme emerging market on Earth' in 2007. And the residential neighborhoods are keeping pace, too – they're dotted with cafés and restaurants that would rival those in European cities. As should be clear by now, there's a stark contrast between the perception of Colombia and its reality. While the country isn't perfect and drugs are still a problem, they are only a fraction of the problem they were 20 years ago. Though few are talking about it, Colombia is up and coming." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAttractively Priced Real Estate, Courtesy of Pablo Escobar

Chile is on the Cusp

"Chile isn't just a safe place to park some savings (e.g., with Chilean real estate), it's also a country with lots of economic opportunity – where entrepreneurs and investors have the potential to make fortunes. More services are becoming readily available, and jobs are plentiful. Professionals from all sorts of fields (engineering, geology, medicine, etc.) have been arriving from 'first world' nations, and the country is beginning to have a much greater international feel than ever before. This will most likely pave the way for another, larger wave of newcomers that wouldn't have been willing to make the move previously." Continue reading →

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Why Foreign Real Estate is an Internationalization Grand Slam

"Obtaining real estate in a foreign country is an internationalization grand slam – it can accomplish four key goals all at once: 1. Move Savings/Wealth Abroad; 2. Create Other Internationalization Options; 3. Portfolio Diversification; 4. Privacy and Tax Benefits." Continue reading →

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Pimco Total Return Had $9.9 Billion Withdrawals in June

"Imagine what is going to happen when the panic over climbing interest rates really starts. Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, a bond fund and the world’s largest mutual fund, had $9.9 billion in net redemptions last month as investors fled bonds in anticipation of higher interest rates. The withdrawals left the fund with $268 billion in assets at the end of June, Morningstar said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPimco Total Return Had $9.9 Billion Withdrawals in June

The Nudge That Will Force Banks to Put More Money Into Treasury Securities

"Translation: The rules will require banks to purchase more government securities, rather than make loans to the private sector. The nudge is in. In a May 1 report,Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee said banks, over time, will need to buy as much as $5.7 trillion in 'safe' assets including government bonds by 2020 to comply with the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S., and capital standards set by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Nudge That Will Force Banks to Put More Money Into Treasury Securities