Over the last week much ink has been spent in trying to pinpoint the Fed’s next policy moves from a meticulous analysis of April’s FOMC Minutes. But such a precision exercise seems redundant now because, only one week after the Minutes were released, the FED has already cast doubt over everything. Policymakers have been tweaking…
The Australian economy has been hit hard by a global decline in the demand for commodities, a fierce currency war between major central banks, and the false prospects of interest rate hikes in the US. Reflecting these deteriorating conditions, the Aussie declined from 1.10 against the US dollar in 2011 to 0.70 in 2015. But,…
The last edition of Master Investor Magazine was dedicated to Warren Buffet, who is “perhaps the greatest investor who ever lived”. If anything is to be learnt from the “Sage of Omaha”, it is that investors should buy value and use the short-term market fluctuations in their favour to purchase great stocks at low prices.…
Over the last few months we have witnessed a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses to determine which candidates will represent the Democratic and Republican parties (among others) in the final stages of the US presidential race. The last few months have been not only a time for reflection about economic, political and social…
So, they finally mustered the courage to do it! The €500 note will no longer be produced in the Eurozone, in order to “fight illegal activities and terrorism”, the ECB claims. But, behind that false moralising lies a bigger plan to scrap cash and force people to depend ever more on banks for their money.…
I feel sorry for Janet Yellen, I really do. Since coming to office as chairman of the FED in 2014 she has been unable to do what she knows must be done: hike interest rates. But her predecessor Ben Bernanke flooded the market with so much money and pushed interest rates so low that every…
As seen in the April issue of Master Investor Magaizine “People who invest make money for themselves; people who speculate make money for their brokers.” ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor Are You an Investor? Investment, speculation and gambling reflect three different approaches towards the equity market that often end with a similar outcome: the…
As ubiquitous as its namesake fruit, Apple has turned its macintosh species into a range of highly desirable brand name products that are now part of our everyday lives. Steve Jobs led Apple into revolutionising mobile computing, which helped to build an untouchable corporate image. Apple is the Ferrari of technology. Everyone wants to own…
The traditional perception is that bonds are a safer investment than equities. But is this a fallacy? Over the short term equities incur in a huge price risk; but over the long term bonds may very well struggle to perform as expected. In times of extreme central bank intervention, this issue regains life and needs…
We live in such great times! A few decades ago we were fighting hard to increase competition among private companies. The EU, for example, was built on free market principles. Today, the task has been so flawlessly accomplished that the same principles have been transposed to the central banking business. Who could ever have imagined…
