There seems to be almost universal acceptance that central banks have created a liquidity bubble. And the logic goes that,…
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Iranian protests are unlikely to topple the regime. But popular discontent with the economy and endemic corruption will shift the…
The Catalonian election results won’t weigh on the euro or EU financial assets in the short term. Whether this holds…
Demography is perhaps the single most important investment theme over the next half century. Many of its implications will begin…
Globalisation has been under assault. The loss of blue collar jobs has provided a captive audience for the anti-trade narrative…
The evolution of German coalition discussions leaves us more optimistic on a pro-European outcome. While we don’t expect an immediate…
While the mania for bitcoin continues unabated, it’s the technology underpinning this innovation — blockchain — that is the real…
The surprise collapse of German coalition negotiations leaves Chancellor Merkel stranded. She is now faced with trying to forge ahead…
When we wrote Of rabbits, bankers and what matters, 19 October 2017 we spoke of the factors that would set…
Central bankers’ reluctance to address the failings of their quantitative macro models (while overlooking the qualitative forces that are affecting…
Ultimately a nuclear North Korea is not acceptable. In the absence of a diplomatic miracle, the US will have to…
Politics rarely defines market trends, but it does alter risks in the shorter term. There is a clutch present in…
The CDU’s share of the vote may have shrunk but it remains the dominant party in Germany. This leaves Merkel…
The news headlines on massively damaging hurricanes, floods and heat waves are almost daily. Extreme weather is now the norm.…
Europe is in the process of forging a new direction. This is a response to the realisation the European project…
Structural changes mean that inflation rates are likely to remain low. That makes it more challenging for central banks to…
Saudi Arabia has a brash young new crown prince who is directing economic and foreign policy. This will increase political…
There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ model for populism. It’s hard to identify in advance why social pressures morph…
The US mainland is now potentially in range of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal. Diplomacy is past its sell-by date,…
Nine years after the global financial crisis (GFC) most advanced economies have clambered above their pre-crisis peaks. But this disguises…
Novembers election of Donald Trump sparked the dollars last hurrah. Were now entering a weak dollar cycle. This is a…
Central banks have a good chance (80% or so) of controlling the reduction in their balance sheets and normalisation of…
Trump’s new foreign policy marks a seismic shift. It returns the US to its role as global policeman backed by…
The dollar’s multi-year bull run might last a couple more months but its fundamental underpinnings are weakening. President Trump’s unpredictability…
The trouble with President Trump is what he is. There is no need for a psychological portrait of the man.…
The reaction of financial markets to Trump’s election is explainable by expectations of tax cuts and rising fiscal spending. This…
Populism substitutes gut feel ignorance for rational policy. In the guise of President Trump, it heralds an age of insularity…
Inflation is coming back. Will it boost corporate profits and investment, relieving the consumer of the burden of driving global…
Clinton will win the presidency for two reasons. She provides a semblance of normality compared to the hot-headedness of Trump.…
Free capital, like free water, is never going to be used productively. So it should be no surprise that central…
We are sticking to our strategic short position for sterling versus the US dollar and revising our target down to…
It is time to take out insurance against a gradual ending of central bank largesse. Sovereign bond yield curve steepeners…
Robert Gordon’s gloomy hypothesis of perpetually slow economic growth looks credible at first glance, but on closer examination it is…
The global anger vote will have lasting effects on politics and, with it, the long-term economic outlook. It is reshaping…
The slow economic normalisation under way since the global financial crisis has been running hand in hand with another process.…
This is one of those moments in history when politics matter as much as economics for financial markets. The rise…
Although the polls continue to suggest the UK’s in/out referendum is too close to call, we maintain the view that…
The long US dollar trade has been a rather testing one so far this year. Weaker US growth and a…
Global equity markets are generally expensive. That’s because central bank largesse has inflated price (P). Meanwhile corporate profits (E) remain…
This paper discusses the fallout from a scenario called “stasis”. It would lead us to change many of our portfolio…
While central bankers sound dismissive when the question of helicopter money is raised, they were equally dismissive about NIRP. Deployment…
Low productivity growth has been a persistent feature since the Global Financial Crisis. Why? On balance our conclusion is that…
We are making two changes to our portfolio allocations. First, we are moving back to a short yen position. Second,…
The deterioration in equity markets this year should not come as a complete surprise, the problems are not new. We…
Disruptive technologies have always been the cause of economic strides. Manufacturing replaced the artisan. Electricity revolutionised industry. The train and…
The Fed’s hold is simply a postponement of the inevitable first hike, which is most probably in December. EM risks are…
Much has been written about the rise in inequality over the past three decades, the debate reaching its crescendo last…
Deflation is the villain that every major country’s central bank has in its sights. But deflation is not necessarily a…
The abandonment of the SNB’s currency peg versus the euro is a reminder of the deflationary forces stalking the global…
