I know a man who spends most nights in an opera house or recital hall. It strikes me as a bit of an odd pastime which tends to detach you from the hard reality of existence. But then, opera is life ‘with knobs on’; the phrase I once used as a lad when I had…
The inability of the FED to hike rates is turning into a chronic disease. Each time the central bank becomes more hawkish in anticipation of a hike, something happens to erode the prospects for even the smallest hike. Since the time of Ben Bernanke, the FED has been putting too much stock in the market’s…
As seen in the latest issue of Master Investor Magazine In the next stage of the Information Age nations which share a cultural affinity will coalesce into closer political and economic partnerships. The principal cultural affinity of the UK is with other English-speaking nations, not Europe (which is heterogeneous, anyway). The forthcoming EU referendum in…
Asian Stars Malaysia’s Hap Seng Consolidated Berhad (KLSE:HAPSENG), a property, plantations and buildings material conglomerate, has managed to quadruple its share price in the last three years and is up 55 percent over the last twelve months – despite a modest decline in the Kuala Lumpur index[i]. It has managed to double after-tax profits despite…
Entrepreneur, fund manager, author, economist and star Master Investor contributor Jim Mellon has urged UK voters to “wake up” and leave the sinking ship that is the European Union in the referendum on 23rd June. Jim pointed to the economies of France and Italy, both of which are mired in debt traps, as the “key…
As seen in the latest issue of Master Investor Magazine It’s hard to believe that the year is almost half way over. There is definitely an acceleration in time as you get older; I feel my life careening towards its ultimate destination – but then I am cheered by the realisation that I have a…
At first it was about the return on capital and now it is about the return on labour. One at a time, the main incentives that keep a market-based economy oiled are being wrecked. Central banks have already eliminated interest rates, discouraging saving; now governments want to introduce a universal basic income, which will discourage…
The financial crisis of 2007-2009 should be renamed the financial crisis of 2007-(?) when it comes to the Eurozone. Eight years after the peak of the crisis, the region is still drowning in debt, plagued by deflation, hobbled by a weak banking sector (headed by a big, fat central bank), and submerged in weak economic…
The mountain glowers down upon the city. A brooding presence, you cannot escape it: Mount Ararat. It’s the place where Noah’s Ark came to rest when the Great Flood subsided. Or so I was taught in primary school. But this mountain, although the symbol of Armenia, is located in another country, on the other side…
Global gyrations During the last decade we have played witness to massive capital movements around the world. Money has flowed from developed countries towards emerging markets, just to flow back in the opposite direction at a later date. While lifting barriers to capital movement has helped intensify global trade and accelerate the development process of…
