The European Central bank has signaled the end of its asset purchase program and a possible rate hike before 2019. After more than 2 trillion euro of purchases and zero interest rate policy, it is overdue. Continue reading The Eurozone’s Coming Debt Crisis
G7 Highlights Hidden Barriers to Trade
The list of countries with the largest trade surplus with the United States is led by China, which exports $375billion more than it imports. It is followed, very far away, by Mexico ($ 71 bn), Japan (69bn), Germany (65bn), Vietnam (38bn), Ireland (38bn) and Italy (31bn). Continue reading G7 Highlights Hidden Barriers to Trade
Face It, Nordic Countries Are Not Socialist
One of the most common fallacies of the new populists is to say that their model is the “Nordic” one and that those countries are successful examples of how “socialism works”. When I mentioned it to the Finnish Finance Minister Petteri Orpo at a recent ECR dinner, he could not believe it. Continue reading Face It, Nordic Countries Are Not Socialist
After Italy… Spain Risk Soars
Originally Published by Hedgeye here.
Political risk in Europe was largely ignored in international markets because of the mirage of the so-called “Macron effect”. The ECB’s massive quantitative easing program and a perception that everything was different this time in Europe added to the illusion of growth and stability. Continue reading After Italy… Spain Risk Soars