trading recap

“Say what?” said Xi. “Shanghai fell 12.1%,” said Zhou. “Last week?” said Xi. “No Shanghai fell 12.1% this week,” said Zhou, correcting his President, “You must be thinking of 2 weeks ago, when Shanghai fell 13.3%, because last week it only fell 6.3%.” Xi pouted worse than usual, sat in silence. Zhou squirmed, filled the void with a parade of policy pronouncements, “Last Friday we cut the required reserve ratios by 50

The little brown giant cleaned his glasses, adjusted his dhoti, and addressed the heaving masses. “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest,” said Mahatma Gandhi, exhausting the topic of statehood, presenting mankind with a seed. And as the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, fled their homelands for America, the former withered, while the latter blosso

Overall: He stood at the podium. The temperature rising, the room shrinking. A victim of game theory gone bad. And as his options narrowed in inverse proportion to his desperation, Tsipras considered the rationality of irrationality. But having played a poor hand poorly, it was unclear whether even this tactic was worth the effort so late in the game. Of course, the Greek was not alone. Policy makers across the globe

Week-in-Review: Mon: Chinese May trade surplus $59.5bln masks weakness (imports -18%, exports -2.8%), Japan Q1 GDP revised to +3.9% (prev +2.8%), Japan C/A surplus 10th straight mth, Korea 1-day MERS cases jump 23 people, G7 agrees to phase out fossil fuels, Erdogan losses majority, Merkel “time is running out for Greece,” German IP +1.4% yoy (+0.9% exp), German Trade balance remains at elevated levels led by an incr

Week-in-Review: Mon: China PMI soft 50.2, Macau May gaming revenue -37%, Japan Q1 capital spending surges 7.3% yoy, Korea PMI 21mth low (exports 5yr low), Aussie PMI +4.3 to 52.3 (18mth high), Norway PMI 2yr low, Swedish retail sales +3% yoy, German CPI +0.7% yoy, US personal income +4.1% yoy (spending +2.8%), savings rate 5.6%, core PCE prices +1.2% yoy, ISM manufacturing +1.3 to 52.8, S&P +0.2%; Tue: RBA rates/

Week-in-Review: Mon: Japan trade balance slips back into a deficit, Greece says won’t make June IMF payment without new bailout deal, Spain’s People’s Party suffers loses in muni elections, S&P closed; Tue: IMF “Renminbi no longer undervalued,” South Africa Q1 GDP soft at 1.3% yoy, New Zealand trade deficit 6yr high, Tsipras gets party approval to conclude bailout deal (Greece says out of money again), US core ca

Week-in-Review: Mon: Japan machine orders +2.6% yoy (exp -6%), Japan IP -1.7% yoy, NZ introduces cap gains real estate tax (macro prudential policy), ISIS seizes Ramadi, Yemen conflict resumes, UK house prices fall most in 9mths, New Zealand announces cap gains tax on real estate, SF Fed paper “Q1 GDP may understate true strength of economy, S&P +0.3%; Tue: China record capital outflows(trade surplus stable), RBA

Narendra Modi floated in a sea of terracotta warriors. Marveling at the magnificence of ancient China. And the passage of time. Xi Jinping looked on, proud of his past, hungry for greatness. China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was buried with 9,000 protective terracotta soldiers and horses. Which in 2015 AD ranks amongst mankind’s finest treasures, though in 209 BC it was its foremost capital misallocation. But it’

She loaded her weapon. Applied her lipstick. Rehearsed her lines. Global bond markets were imploding. And with yields this low, it’s difficult to put the losses into context. But in two weeks, 10yr German Bund investors lost the equivalent of 29yrs worth of coupon payments. And sure as a fool and his money are soon parted, holders of $4trln of European bonds dizzied themselves in circular references, as their Excel s