trading recap

Week-in-Review (expressed in YoY terms): Mon: South Korea’s Park moves toward impeachment, EU inflation expectations 11mth high, May acknowledges “UK businesses need Brexit clarity,” France foils terror attack, Sarkozy knocked out of French primary with 22% (Fillon leads with 44%, Juppe 28%), Merkel to seek 4th term, Bundesbank “German Q4 growth to accelerate,” Fed’s Fisher “fiscal policy could ease burden on Fed,” S

Overall: “Wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes one of the defining words of our time,” said the President of Oxford Dictionaries, “2016 Word-of-the-Year is Post-Truth!” A few nerds cheered, chortled. I amongst them. I love words, they’re the razor blades separating light from darkness, man from ape. They appear and vanish, from the infinite nothingness, like sub-atomic particles – quarks, gluons, Higgs-Bosons.

Overall: “Not half bad for a deplorable,” he said to the mirror, feigning false modesty. “Decent result for someone uniquely unqualified,” he continued, preparing for his Obama meeting, blowing a kiss. Staring back stood the most handsome President-elect that the President-elect had ever seen. Or would ever see. Ever. “Sorry for the whole birther thing Barry. Hillary started it, I ended it. I’m the closer, the winner

Overall: “British spenders have entirely looked through post-Brexit uncertainty,” said Mark Carney. “Consumer jitters were notable by their absence,” continued the Bank of England governor. UK wages kept growing, confidence remained solid, business investment resilient. So the Bank of England forecast its biggest inflation overshoot since 1997; expecting 2018 price gains to peak at +2.8%. Now, let’s assume that havin

Overall: “We prefer to not keep interest rates at such low levels for an excessively long time,” announced Draghi, squinting. “Unwelcome side-effects may accumulate over time,” continued the central banker, staring, straining to see, the future blurry. Never in human history has the outlook been so uncertain. Homo Sapiens hunted and gathered for 150 monotonous millennia. Then farmed for 120 mind numbing centuries, un

Overall: “You watch Saturday Night Live?” asked the CIO, high atop his prodigious pile. Of course I had. “How about Colbert?” he asked. Yup. “The Daily Show?” Naturally. “Did you make it through the debate or just catch the highlights?” Watched it all. “I’m not the puppet, you’re the puppet!” he shouted, repeatedly, losing his mind. We all are. And attempting to move on, I asked if he’d seen Norway’s $880bln sovereig

Overall: “Extreme economic events have often challenged existing views of how the economy works and exposed shortcomings in the collective knowledge of economists,” said Yellen, searching for excuses, groping, blind. “The Fed is likewise engaged in ongoing research to seek answers,” she explained, announcing a series of questions that her board of economic scientists are exploring to better understand our post-crisis

Overall: “I was inspired by the interlocking forms in Celtic art,” explained Dr. Feringa, the Nobel recipient, a nano-machine pioneer. Scientists created inert molecular rings, but a machine requires moving parts, and he discovered how to build dynamic interlocking rings around a charged copper ion. Fifteen years later, his molecular machine spun 12 million times per second. “I feel a little bit like the Wright broth

Overall: “Tell me, what is happening to America?” he asked, in Johannesburg, our presidential debate broadcast into the highest towers and lowest townships. “Can it be possible that Trump becomes your president?” he asked, perplexed, concerned. For South Africans, US leadership is not reality television, it’s reality. Globalization is America’s greatest export, weaving us all together, and for those on the economic e