Investment/Trends

Gold price falls to five-year low on US rate rise talk

"The gold price has fallen to its lowest level in more than five years as talk of a US interest rate rise has led investors to sell the precious metal. Gold closed 2.5% lower at $1,104.60 an ounce in London, having earlier fallen below $1,100 an ounce for the first time since March 2010. The gold price is now more than 40% below its August 2011 peak. The stronger US economy has led investors to expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. The expectations have led investors to gradually sell gold - a perceived safe haven investment in times of crisis - to invest elsewhere. Other commodities have also fallen, with the price of platinum down 5% - its weakest level since the crisis." Continue reading →

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Hidden Time Bombs Behind Greece Bailout

"Just these top four derivatives players — B of A, Goldman, Citi and JPMorgan — control nearly $203.5 trillion, or 92% of all derivatives held in the U.S. banking system. And the largest 25 U.S. banks control 99.8%. All told, the thousands of other regional, mid-sized and small banks in this country control a meager one-fifth of one percent of the derivatives. This is an oligopoly unlike any other in the financial world — one that ties the fate of the U.S. economy to these firms’ stability far beyond anything ever witnessed in prior centuries. In contrast, Lehman Brothers was actually smaller by comparison — with 'only' $7.1 trillion in derivatives." Continue reading →

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China Introduces $483 Billion Stock Support Program

"China has made 2.5 trillion yuan to 3 trillion yuan ($483 billion) of funding available for government agency China Securities Finance Corp. to support the stock market, people familiar with the matter said. The funding is to offer liquidity support to brokers and to purchase stocks and mutual funds. Chinese stocks rose the most in a week as the government gains ground in efforts to stabilize a stock market that plummeted in the past month after a debt-fueled boom. The money was available from the central bank’s relending facility; credit lines with commercial banks; borrowing by CSF in the interbank market; and bonds and short-term notes sold by CSF, the people said." Continue reading →

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The Bank Branch: An Endangered Species?

"At Citigroup (C), we just learned that 15% have been eliminated in the past year. That leaves only 779 in North America. At Bank of America (BAC), 234 have gone the way of the dodo in the past several months. At JPMorgan Chase (JPM), 300 are being shuttered as we speak. I’m talking about one of the 21st century’s biggest endangered species: the bank branch. And chances are, you’re helping eliminate them almost every single day. When was the last time you deposited a check with an actual bank teller? Or even at an ATM? I can’t remember personally, and for a very simple reason. I bank with Chase, and the company’s smartphone app lets me do it right from my iPhone 6!" Continue reading →

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IRS Seeks To Require Reporting Of All U.S. Bank Accounts

"Currently, information reports are not required on non-interest accounts, while there is a $10 threshold for reporting on interest bearing accounts. This change would be effective for the current tax year of 2015, giving banks and credit unions little time to adapt their systems for compliance. Should this provision be enacted, taxpayers will be awash in new 1099s reporting de minimis amounts of interest. In many cases, they will report less than a one dollar in earned interest per year. Additionally, this new reporting requirement will impose substantial costs on the financial services industry that far exceed the revenue that will be gained by the proposal." Continue reading →

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How to offshore your credit card with China’s Unionpay

"China created Unionpay 13 years ago to serve as its own interbank for payments. The unique benefit of Unionpay is that is controlled by the People’s Bank of China and has no relation to the western banking system. In fact, the Russian government is using the system while they build their own payment system to get away from western systems. One Russian billionaire commented that he got a Unionpay-backed card to protect himself after US sanctions were imposed on Russia. You can get a Unionpay card by opening a bank account in Mainland China. Interestingly enough, wealthy Chinese are even using Unionpay for capital flight out of Mainland China." Continue reading →

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Visa CEO Charlie Scharf: Moving at the speed of money

"West Coast venture capitalists see Visa as an oligopolistic dinosaur and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into rivals that use bitcoin. Meanwhile, banks, which collect the bulk of the fees from merchants, are warily eyeing Visa’s efforts to bypass them and forge direct relationships with retailers by offering one-click internet transactions and providing data on consumer behaviour that only Visa possesses. None of which seems to faze Visa’s chief executive, Charlie Scharf. In time, he says, would-be Visa disruptors all discover—just as internet upstarts PayPal, Square and Uber did—that it is simply easier and more economical to work with his leviathan than fight it." Continue reading →

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The One Lesson to Learn Before a Market Crash

"The media incorrectly suggests that the collapse of the market in 2008 began with the Lehman bankruptcy on September 15. The fact is that the market fully recovered to even higher levels the following week as the government banned short selling of financial stocks (much like China is doing more broadly at present). Weeks later, in a wicked case of 'sell the news,' the actual collapse started literally 15 seconds after the TARP bailout was passed by Congress. Investors want to tie market outcomes to very specific events or catalysts. But history suggests a different lesson: once extreme valuations are joined by a shift toward risk-aversion among investors, the specific events become irrelevant." Continue reading →

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Risky Loans Shunned by Banks Are Booming in Wall Street’s Shadow

"Regulators’ efforts to rein in Wall Street’s biggest banks are in danger of backfiring. Guidelines aimed at strengthening lending standards are shifting the market for high-yield credit to less-supervised loan funds, raising alarm this week from the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Because the funds don’t have depositors, some of their money comes from Wall Street banks, leaving systemically important institutions exposed to risks regulators hoped to avoid. BDCs and private credit funds [are called] 'Dodd-Frank banks' because they’ve grown in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act’s heightened supervisory scrutiny of regulated lenders." Continue reading →

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Capital Controls and a Bank Holiday in Greece

"When you hear a central banker or politician deny that something is going to happen to bank depositors, you can almost be certain that it will happen. And probably soon. There’s a reason for the dishonesty. The government needs to take the public by surprise. Otherwise they won’t get the results they want from capital controls or a bank holiday. Calling the experience a bank holiday is like calling a street mugging a surprise party. Once the banks are closed - or on 'holiday,' as the government puts it - the politicians are free to help themselves to as much of the customer deposits (including yours) as they want. It’s like an all-you-can-steal buffet." Continue reading →

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