When I say the fix is in for FXI that’s not meant to be mysterious. FXI is the ticker symbol for a U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF) composed of the largest Chinese stocks. The phrase “the fix is in” simply refers to government-backed manipulation. When you combine the two into a government plan to tank their
The trade war is beginning to take its toll on China as the Chinese economy is losing momentum. Beijing has pledged to increase small-business lending and increase infrastructure investment to help offset the impact. Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura Intl. in Hong Kong, said, for example, “The Chinese economy will get worse before
Iran and the U.S. have engaged in round after round of hostage taking, sabotage, cyberwarfare, sanctions, negotiations and attempts at normalization since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The latest development, an important one, was Trump’s termination of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, the nuclear constraint deal hammered out in 2015 by Iran, the
Did you know the Fed has been off by orders of magnitude on nine straight annual economic forecasts? Did you know the Fed has never accurately forecast a recession in 105 years? I could go on, but you get the point. The Fed has the worst forecasting record of any major finance-oriented institution. It’s not
Bitcoin is a funny combination of my least favorite topic and my most studied sector. It’s my least favorite because the nonsustainability, nonscalability and nonsecurity make bitcoin blaringly unsuitable as currency. It’s my most studied because I’m continually dragged into gold versus bitcoin debates on the gold side, so I take the time and effort
In a world where the U.K. voted to leave the EU, the U.S. elected Trump, Italy empowered its dissident Five Star Movement to enter a coalition government and Austria elected a 31-year-old rightist as its new prime minister, it’s fair to say the nationalist anti-immigration right wing is having its moment in the sun. A
We have recommended a reduced exposure to equities and increased allocation to cash for months. This reallocation of assets has obvious benefits. Equities are obviously vulnerable (still 4% below the January 2018 all-time high with asset inflation in FAANG stocks, financials and other sectors). Cash offers the double benefit of reduced portfolio volatility and increased
