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…
I’m happy not to be in the skin of Bill Ackman, who will have to explain to investors why his Pershing Square managed to lose $1 billion in less than one one year. That will be particularly challenging because the losses are heavily concentrated in a single asset – Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The Canadian specialty pharmaceutical…
The ONS has just announced the highest current account deficit on record for the British economy, at 5.2% of annual GDP. While nothing new, this trend may become hazardous now that Brexit plans are under discussion. In fact, some of the effects are already in play and can currently be seen in the stunning deterioration…
While the central bank is hurting savers in a bid to turn them into heavy spenders, the government is attempting to do the opposite by creating new savings products to seduce youngsters into saving at an earlier age. Announced in the Budget by George Osborne, the LISA is the most recent addition to the savings…
Less than one week after the ECB signalled it would start purchasing investment-grade corporate bonds, bond issues are already going through the roof, as everyone is trying to front-run the ECB. From risk-free loans (through open market operations) to corporate loans (through investment-grade bond purchases), the ECB has come a long way in expanding its…
