Forecasts

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph had an interesting post out yesterday on demographic trends in China. He writes that the working-age population in China is now shrinking as China ages quickly, in part due to the one-child policy.…

My thesis these past few years is that a fiscal retrenchment to reduce deficits in the US was likely to lead to a shortened business cycle. I have been saying since 2013 began that politics favoured the United States going into austerity…

In today's links were two articles which highlighted the juxtaposition between declining sovereign yields and worrisome economic fundamentals in Spain and Portugal.

Earlier today I posted an article in the links on the euro's move up to a 14-month high. As I write this, the euro is trading a 1.3568 to the US dollar, up markedly from 2012's low during the sovereign debt crisis of 1.2063 on 25 July. And…

US GDP contracted at a 0.1% annualised rate in Q4 of 2012 according to preliminary estimates announced by the US government earlier today. This contraction was well below consensus estimates and comes as a shock to most of the analyst…

As I have been predicting since the beginning of the year, I believe the Republicans will be able to force through some form of austerity before the budget battles in Washington are over this quarter. As the year began, we saw the fiscal…

Samsung released earnings today that showed record profit but they warned that the growth of handset sales was slowing because of increasing competition.

Last year, I was bullish on European shares and this proved the right call as they modestly outperformed. As this year begins, I am doing a lot of thinking about my much-delayed "Ten Surprises for 2011" post. And as I compile list items,…

There's a lot of angst surrounding Apple's earnings announcement because of the stock's sell-off. While I have turned bearish on Apple, I still believe the numbers for the quarter will be good. The question for me is guidance.

I never subscribed to the idea that Greece was going to be expelled from the euro zone in 2012. However, my view on Greece is more pessimistic than most. Most policy makers in Europe would have you believe the euro crisis is over. Here's…