Month: December 2018

Wednesday, 19^th December 2018

What happens next?

Interest rates have been heading up – with promises of more hikes to come….

So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that stocks have been travelling in the opposite direction – down….

Stock values are falling like stones wherever you look….

Here in the UK, the FTSE 100 is down 10% since the beginning of October. The FTSE 250 has lost 14% of its value over the same period….

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 11.2%; the S&P 500 is down 12,9%; and the Nasdaq Composite has fallen 15.6%….

The German DAX is down 12.7%. The French CAC 40 is down 13.4%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index is down 13.4%….

• A frenzy of borrowing….

Ten-years of the lowest interest rates and the loosest monetary policy ever known in the history of mankind succeeded in creating a particular and specific hothouse environment….

One where credit was freely available – and cheap. Cheaper than it has ever been before….

Governments, institutions, businesses and consumers were being encouraged to borrow. And borrow they did….

They borrowed as much as was good for them. And more. And then more still. They borrowed all they could get their hands on.… Click here to read more

Thursday, 6^th December 2018

Dead or alive?

If you make a habit of reading the financial press, you’ll know that right now every man and his dog is talking about inverted yield curves in the US – and what that means for the global economy and markets….

We’ll leave them to get on with that….

But me? I can’t take my eyes off Bitcoin. The carnage continues….

Down now through the $4000 barrier and trading earlier this morning as low as $3680, this is the crash that keeps on rolling….

The weak-kneed crypto speculators have been well-and-truly shaken out of the market now. Those buy-and-hold merchants that remain are surely made of iron….

• The hideous spectacle….

Bitcoin is coming down the mountain like one of those Olympic skiers who lose control at speeds of 80 to 90mph….

One moment they are shooting across the snow like bullets….

Suddenly they wobble and lose control. And the next minute they are  tumbling down the hillside in a high-speed tangle of arms, legs, sticks and skis….

It’s bone-breaking stuff and a hideous spectacle to watch….

When will it stop? Will it stop? Or is this thing going to hit rock-bottom with a sickening thump?… Click here to read more