2018

Ok I tried. I went into the political arena. And doing so reaffirmed for me why I steer clear. This is just a brief note to tell you why. Let me frame it this way: What if I told you that I thought a lack of civic responsibility of…

Why is Tesla CEO Elon Musk smoking marijuana in public and sipping whiskey while taping a podcast? Sure, it's legal in California. But it's not a good look. And it makes Azealia Banks' claims look credible that Musk was tweeting the "taking…

Okay, let me go right to Peter's comment from yesterday about fixing the system using the Arizona piece as a jumping-off point. I'm going to be talking about the US here. But some of what I say is probably relevant elsewhere as well.…

The title of this daily post is a bit dramatic, I know. But that's what I came up with when I thought about some of the themes I intend to write about today. It's on my mind because of the news cycle and what I've been reading. But some…

Yesterday, I connected the end of the carry trade and stress on Australian bank margins. The point was that the withdrawal of global liquidity wasn't just affecting emerging markets in our interconnected global financial system. Australia…

"As much as I would like to buck the bearish sentiment, I continue to see EM as an underweight, in currencies, bonds and equities." That's how I ended the last post. Yet, at the same time, even as crisis deepens in the emerging markets,…

Emerging market equities are in a bear market as of today. So, right now, everyone seems to be talking about contagion in the emerging markets. As the day began, the US dollar was posting gains against most currencies, emerging market and…

Back in early July, I wrote a post on the politics of the German refugee crisis. And the conclusion at that time was that Horst Seehofer was bluffing about blowing up the governing coalition. In retrospect, this proved right. But in the…

1 - How little politics matters to the market A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted the following after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty: For those surprised there’s no market reaction to Cohen, why should there be? It has no bearing on earnings,…

Are Trump voters racists? Those of you who have been reading my posts for some time know that I don't believe racism is the defining element behind a rise in populism across the developed economies. I certainly believe populist politicians…