Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have fired the opening salvoes of the coming trade war It's only the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, but the contrast between Trump’s “America First” protectionist rhetoric and other world leaders’ hopes of globalisation working for the many could not be starker. The Trump rally had already stalled before the 45th President began his inauguration speech, as investors sought more detail on his plans. Despite [...]
Why Trump voters will now be suffering from Trumpgret It is fascinating, albeit in a sad way, to see politicians making promises they won’t or can’t keep. A prime example was Vote Leave’s pledge to hand the £350m per week sent to the EU to the NHS instead. It was scrapped from the campaign’s website the day after the Brexit vote. Last week’s election win by [...]
Getting an Opec output cut won’t be a piece of cake With the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan rate decisions out of the way, focus could now shift elsewhere. Like towards the expected weaker US durable goods orders (which are, according to Credit Suisse, set to drop to -2.3 per cent in August compared to 4.4 per cent in July), or the oil [...]
Poland: Europe’s economic dynamo – CNBC Comment December 8, 2014 Having just returned from a week in central and eastern Europe, I thought I would share a few thoughts about one of the countries I visited, Poland. As Europe’s sixth largest economy, it is the only EU country to border both Russia and Ukraine. Yet despite geopolitical tensions in the region — and a slow-to-no [...]
Capital concerns: Europe’s bank woes – CNBC Comment October 13, 2014 News hit last week that Espirito Santo Financial Group, whose primary asset was a 20 per cent stake in the Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo, had declared bankruptcy, and not a moment too soon. Last Friday, the European Banking Authority announced 26 October as the official date for the reveal of the EU bank stress [...]
The Eurozone has entered the red zone – CNBC Comment September 1, 2014 The Eurozone's August inflation figure was confirmed at 0.3 per cent last week, down from July’s surprisingly weak reading of 0.4 per cent. It was also, of course, way below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target of just under 2 per cent, and well within the ECB’s stated “danger zone” of under 1 per cent. [...]
CNBC Comment: Why instability isn’t spooking markets July 21, 2014 THE BIGGEST point markets are making at the moment is that they aren’t making a big point. Given increased tensions around Russia and Ukraine, we are closer to war in Europe than we have been for a long time. Simultaneously, the death toll in Gaza tragically keeps rising. Yet despite these dominating geopolitical events, involving [...]
British business must believe that recession is immanent September 1, 2008 Finally. a clean month ahead of us. And more importantly, the Labour Day weekend is over and done with. This, theoretically, should mean that there are no more excuses as to why we are not seeing “proper” market behaviour. The summer is coming to an end – no more erratic, light-volume trading weeks, and full [...]
