Month: February 2017

Tuesday 21st February 2017

There is no robot conspiracy….

The robots are coming – coming for your job; coming to take your livelihood; coming to render you obsolete in the workplace along with millions of others….

That’s the message – delivered by politicians, pundits and luminaries as distinct as Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates….

I know you’ve seen the message. I know you read the newspapers, watch TV and use the Internet. I know you’ve repeatedly come across the stark warnings.

The robots will replace you. Intelligent machines can not only do what you do – they can do it quicker, better, cheaper, more accurately and tirelessly.

And intelligent machines are being bolted together in big numbers – ready to permanently replace you as the hired hand….

• Robots – model employees….

Robots don’t take sick days. Or holidays. They don’t require pension contributions. Their attention isn’t focused exclusively on the next pay rise.

They don’t need a car-parking space. Or wheelchair access. They don’t even require you to hang a coat peg.

They don’t make a fuss about health and safety. If a robot gets damaged, it gets repaired or replaced. There’s no lawyer offering the robot a ‘no-win-no-fee’ deal to chase the employer for compensation….… Click here to read more

Tuesday 14th February 2017

Brace yourself! This might hurt….

It is St. Valentine’s Day. We associate this day with roses and chocolates. Also with Al Capone’s massacre of gangland rivals in Chicago in 1929….

What will it be today? A candle-lit dinner for two? Or bullets and tears at bedtime?

In the world of money –  our beat – it will depend on this morning’s updates from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI)….

Both are key official measures of inflation….

The CPI measures changes in the prices of consumer goods and services bought by households….

The PPI measures the average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output….

Both measures are expected to show that prices are rising – fast.

Rising prices are something we warned about back in September & October. Then, rising inflation was a specter on the horizon. Now, it is a fact of life.

Ahead of today’s announcements, British households were being primed for a sustained squeeze on finances….

• The only way is up….

This prediction from Saturday’s Telegraph:

‘Inflation jumps in January as vegetable shortages set to push up prices further….’

We reckon they’re onto a winner with this one….… Click here to read more

Tuesday 7th February 2017

This bear can be a real bull….

Markets bucked expectation when Donald Trump was elected president….

They were expected to respond negatively to the uncertainty he personifies….

In the event, markets took Trump’s campaign promises for deeds and rose to new heights….

If that represented euphoria, there were signs last week that the market is regaining its senses….

In his 4th-quarter letter to investors in Elliott Management, the hedge fund he runs, Paul Singer said this:

‘There is a deep underlying complacency which we think permeates global financial markets. The basically-low volatility of the last eight years has led to a widespread assumption that financial market volatility has been bottled and will remain controlled.’

The implication is that volatility is not under control. That, like the tiger you mistakenly believe you’ve tamed, it retains teeth, claws and the ability to savage you….

Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates also issued words of caution:

‘Nationalism, protectionism and militarism increase global tensions and the risks of conflict. For these reasons, while we remain open-minded, we are increasingly concerned about the emerging policies of the Trump administration….’

It is dawning on investors that Trump’s ‘America first’ policies could stymie the very growth they are intended to generate….… Click here to read more