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Hope all goes well… “My father was born in 1900, and lived through the great depression, hyperinflation, two world wars, a Russian prison camp, and so forth,” said the German in perfect English, over lunch, looking out across the river Limmat, from Zurich’s Hotel Storchen, established 1357. “He would tell me and my brothers, the world does not wait boys, it does not stop turning.” Swans paddled against the current, m

Hope all goes well… “Un peu,” I answered. That means ‘a little.’ Which is about how much French I’ve retained after all these years. I’ve snuck into the Alps for a couple days with an old friend, 7th generation high-altitude mountain guide. And he’d asked if my legs were tired after five hours, knee-high in the forest, a late-season blizzard upon us. “Mon petit nature,” I continued, breathless, beating him to the pun

Hope all goes well… “You know the thing about being in the middle?” asked Teddy, over a one-on-one dinner. “I annoy Jackson, Jackson bullies me. I bully Charlie and Charlie annoys me,” explained my middle son. “So out of the three of us, I’m the only one who gets annoyed and bullied.” I laughed, as did he. You see, Teddy finds the humor in things. It’s there for those who look. He falls asleep reading comic books, wa

Hope all goes well… Dusted off an anecdote from 2015 about the power of patience (see below). Back next Sunday with full weekend notes. Week-in-Review (expressed in YoY terms): Mon: Chinese iron ore and copper prices jump 7%, Japan GDP -0.3 to +1.0%, India CPI 3.17% (5yr low), Macron says Russia is hacking his campaign, German wholesale inflation 4.0% (6yr high), OPEC cuts Jan oil output 1.1mm barrels, EIA says US oi

Hope all goes well… “All further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped,” was the statement published by Chatham House, a prominent London-based independent think tank, before Trump announced his Muslim ban. 10,000 Europeans responded to the poll as follows: EU Total (55% agree with the statement, 20% disagree, the balance neither agreed nor disagreed), Belgium (64% agree, 15% disagree), Greece 58%

Hope all goes well… “You know how I’m really nice?” asked Charlie (7) at the dinner table. And we all smiled, never knowing what comes next with this kid. After all, I called him Osama bin Charlie for the first time when he was three and it stuck for good reason. “Seriously, you have no idea? Go ahead, take a guess,” he taunted, a little irritated. We all shrugged. “Well, when I get out on that lacrosse field, I’m no

Hope all goes well… “Buy elections,” bellowed Biggie Too. “Sell inaugurations,” continued the chief global strategist for one of those too-big-to-fail affairs. “That was one pretty market meme, everyone was singing the same tune.” The Dow flashed 20,000. “But pretty ain’t money,” whispered Too, winking. “On my latest US tour, they kept asking, ‘Yo Biggie, when this damn thing gonna go pop?’” He pursed his lips. “When

Hope all goes well… Spent the weekend in NYC, and stumbled upon the biggest political march in its history. “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” rippled through the crowd, dotted in pink pussy hats. “No Trump, No KKK, No Racist USA,” they cried. A soundwave of outrage. “Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!” echoed on and on. And swallowed by the scene – unlike anything I’ve e

Hope all goes well… “Total fiasco, utter circus!” cried the CIO. “KGB videos, golden showers, kompromat, and his temper tantrum over that CNN reporter,” he continued, breathless. “Single worst press conference for a world leader in history. The $2bln Dubai deal. That random pile of manila folders. The dopey lawyer. Gimmicks, conspiracies, rambling bluster. We didn’t learn a single thing about policy. For the sake of

Week-in-Review (expressed in YoY terms): Mon: New Year’s Day (observed), S&P closed; Tue: German CPI surges +1.0 to +1.7% (3yr high), German 6% unemployment steady at 30yr low, Ford scraps plans to build $1.6bln Mexican factory citing Trump, Congress withdraws bill to eviscerate Ethics Committee after Trump tweet, Trump tweet threatens GM with import duties on Mexican-made cars, US credit card write-offs hit reco