The return of Banking fears! The news that the mighty Deutsche Bank is under suspicion takes us back to the psychology of seven years ago when most us, including central bank chairmen, realised that we had banking crisis and disaster on our hands. This article attempts to differentiate between the circumstances then and the circumstances…
Risk and volatility are increasing rapidly, as investors reassess whether more easing is really a good thing or just the confirmation of a global central banking failure. US markets are way overvalued due to the trillions the FED injected into the market over so many years. At a time industrial production and employment data are…
As seen in the February issue of Master Investor Magazine. If, like me, you’ve spent your entire adult life fearing inflation as the universal bogie, welcome to the pantomime world of Post-Modern economics. Because there’s another bogie even worse: it’s called deflation. For those of you who are not familiar with the great British tradition…
I spend a lot of time attending finance seminars on all manner of subjects. This week I was at a very interesting seminar about quality standards in industry as defined by the BSI (British Standards Institute), the people with the Kitemark – a logo that has the same brand awareness as Pepsi (something they are…
As seen in the February issue of Master Investor Magazine. By Stephen Sanderson, Executive Chairman, UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC When my generation of petroleum geologists began our careers in the late 1970s, it was a widely-held belief that oil reserves would be close to exhaustion by now. Prices were forecast to be hundreds of…
On 01 February we learnt that Russia is planning to privatise seven major state-controlled companies. They are: Aeroflot, the airline; Alrosa, the diamond miner; Rosneft, the oil major; Bashneft, an oil minor; Russian Railways (the most romantic railway company in the world, in my personal view); VTB, the state-wide retail bank; and Sovcomflot, the shipping…
One thing central banks fail to acknowledge is that their medicines are a kind of chemotherapy that, while attempting to eradicate a problem, often end up damaging everything else at the same time. QE in particular is one of those unconventional treatments that should always be used with parsimony because of its extreme side effects.…
One of the things that I find most irritating about the beliefs of some of those on the further outreaches of modern right-wing political belief is their habit of confusing democracy with capitalism. I can understand why they do it: consumption is for people and democracy is the people; therefore, capitalism satisfies the economic needs…
The big story in the world’s financial markets over the last six months or so has been the fall of the Chinese stock market. The Dow Jones Shanghai Index (INDEXDJX:DJSH) hit a high of 713 on 12 June last year but fell to 452 by 08 July. Thereafter, it gyrated inelegantly throughout the autumn. But…
Virgin Atlantic 301. I’m heading home. At Indira Ghandi Airport I purchased a copy of Peter Francopan’s The Silk Roads – A New History of the World (at half the price of what it costs in the UK – another reason I love India). You may know that I discussed this book in my Postcard…
