Portugal’s Successful Turnaround? A Fairy Tale
Even a brief glance at the facts suffices. Portugal is no less bankrupt than Greece. The country’s government debt, at 124% of GDP, might be lower than in Greece. However, government debt is just one – even though important – part of the full debt picture. On an...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action A surprising and sterling jobs number on Friday did not enthuse U.S. equities as a near 300-point fall in the Dow closed out the week. Utilities led the selloff on Friday, moving in tandem with bond yields, which also saw their highest point in 2015....
“Quanto Sia Vana Ogni, Quanto Fallace Ciaschedum Disegno”: The Economics of Turmoil, and the Financing of Dysfunctionalities in the Midst of Volatile Markets
Lorenzo the Magnificent (the scion of the Medici banking family), whose lending institution dominated not only Florence but much of Europe, was also a poet influenced by Horace and Catullus. The Latin phrase above reflects the first two lines of one of his sonnets....
Monthly Barometer’s Forward-Looking Monthly Review: An Interdisciplinary View of our Complex Global Economy
Although there are multiple takes on the global economic outlook, there is a single determining factor upon which that outlook hinges: the world suffers from over-indebtedness and needs to cure its addiction to credit. According to a recent McKinsey report, global...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action U.S. markets closed out the month of February with one of the best months in the past few years, coming off a disappointing January. All sectors, save for the interest sensitive utilities, rose for the month. After agreeing to a deal with the Eurogroup...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action Thanks to a surge in markets on Friday major indices in the U.S. closed the week in positive territory. The main catalyst for the upswing was a deal reached between Greece and the Eurogroup for continuing the current program. The deal between...
Overfed but Still Malnourished: The Aegean Sea Meets Singapore
About a year ago in a meeting we had in Warsaw, Poland I contrasted Jamaica and Singapore. The contrast was based on a simple observation/fact, which stated that those two countries started at almost identical positions in the early 1960s, but Singapore excelled since...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action Major U.S. benchmarks closed the week in positive territory for the year despite the lack of major data releases to support the moves. Technology led the week thanks to some promising earnings and news out of the sector followed up by Materials who are...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action U.S. stocks had one of their best weeks in the past five years. Better than expected earnings by some key companies, economic data and a technical bounce served as catalysts. Energy served as the best performing sector this week. Oil prices have risen...
Warning: Head-On Collision Ahead
Close to twenty years ago, the Eurocrats decided to defy the laws of gravity in economics, and they started designing a common currency without a fiscal union. Their thinking was straight-forward: “If we suspend the law of gravity, the Euro will be sustained (like if...
