A thought. By now, the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing strategy is well underway, with the central bank pushing as much cash as possible into the hands of private commercial banks, hoping that they will then take the money and distribute it throughout the economy in the form of loans. Check out excess [Read more...]

As 2008 comes to a close, the much-hyped BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies are looking increasingly troubled. The only question is: which will fare best? (In the 2009-10 timeframe, not by 2050.)

Perhaps ‘best’ is the wrong term. Chances are, for example, that China and India will grow faster than Brazil, but not without experiencing [Read more...]

One useful indicator of when countries will slip into recession or economic downturn is the completion dates of major skyscrapers. I’ve checked lists of major tall buildings, and almost all countries were entering a bleak period economically when prominent towers were completed or nearing completion. (The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat provides a [Read more...]

Having spent a week in South Africa, it was very refreshing to escape the European economic doom and gloom and visit a country with stunning natural beauty and fantastic culinary experiences. With the British pound having appreciated by more than 10.4% against the rand year-to-date (ytd), South Africa’s world famous beef steaks tasted even juicier. [Read more...]

Latvia is the newest victim of the credit crunch. This is not official. No formal application has been made for an IMF bail-out package, nor has it made the front pages of any major newspaper of record on the continent. That said, with the economy contracting by 4.2% in the third quarter (down from 10.1% [Read more...]

Singapore may be the only Asian economy currently in recession, but there is no reason to believe that its future is not bright. In fact, having just spent last week there, I concluded that the present recession should be a blip in the grand scheme of things.

Singapore has many positive attributes that lead me to [Read more...]

Fresh from a meeting in which my colleagues and I were labelled ‘the world’s biggest bears’ by a potential client, the Watchdog is beginning to feel like it has to offer some bullish calls to counterbalance its bearishness. Sure, I’ve been upbeat about G7 bonds — yeah, you only get a couple of percent yield [Read more...]