This is a graph of global consumer spending produced in 2012 by ATKearney. As you see, the figure for 2010 was $28 trillion which is projected to rise to $40 trillion by 2020. I’ve no idea if these figures are realistic or not, but what impresses me about them is the gargantuan size of global consumer…
When it comes to energy and how you power your home… fear not, the government has you covered. That is, until it’s no longer financially beneficial to do so. Take the solar industry, for example. With all the tax credits, subsidies, and risky government-backed loans to solar companies and consumers, you’d think the government wants…
The forecasts for the year of 2015 are not bad, assuming that most central banks will still have expansive monetary policies. The exception will be the US central bank, which will probably raise interest rates over the course of the year. That should not bring the economy to its knees, however, as the Fed will…
The anti-dollar contingent around the world who have preached that since Russia already trades its own currencies independently from the dollar and China has been trying to make the same move, are spinning the blogs claiming this is a “Zionist banker” conspiracy and this proves that all nations are tired of debt making Zionist banking. Well…
We recently noted the rise of counterparty risks in the financial system due to oil prices dropping (and leveraged derivative exposures) but as the Russia situation has deteriorated so dramatically this week, a renewed focus on bank exposures has sent stocks reeling (and credit risk soaring) among many European (and US) banks. As Bloomberg reports, Raiffeisen Bank International…
Amazon (AMZN) has had enough of the United States. Specifically, it’s had enough of the country’s strict, stifling regulations (no surprise there) on unmanned vehicles – a.k.a. drones. As you may know, a year ago, the company announced its plan to launch Amazon Prime Air – an ambitious drone-based delivery service that would fly…
Someone in comments pointed out (BABA), so I checked it out. Yeah, it’s acting awfully weird. For a triple-digit stock, it’s stuck, day after day, in a tiny price range. Word on the street that options on BABA are one of the hottest things going. Lots of smoke; not much fire.
First, let me say what you read here is going to be wrong in several ways. HFT covers such a wide path of trading that different parties participate or are impacted in different ways. I wanted to put this out there as a starting point. Hopefully the comments will help further educate us all. 1….
If you follow precious metals news, you might have seen a recent article reporting that Russia sold a big chunk of its gold reserves. The article has since been corrected, but it just goes to show how sloppy Western journalism can be, especially when it comes to the reality of physical gold investment. Laurynas Vegys…
Low oil prices are igniting vehicle sales. And those old, American favorites – sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks – are becoming popular again. Increased sale have, in turn, spurred greater demand of certain metals. I already covered the movement of palladium and platinum in catalytic converters. Now it looks like another metal is going to…
