Defence stocks in Europe soar
The global defense industry is churning right now. Following the security conference in Munich, where the USA hinted it would cease providing security help for Europe, many…
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How easy is it to bring manufacturing back to the US?
This is obviously Trump's big dream. Yet the tariffs which he applied to China and other countries in his first term (which were kept in place and increased by Biden), didn't…
Now Trump wants to impose tariffs on countries that have VAT
First of all, what is VAT? Here is a good explanation A value-added tax (VAT) is not a tariff, it is a consumption tax assessed on the value added in each production stage of a…
How should Canada respond to Trump's threats?
The proposed tariffs have been suspended for one month - but that's no good as any business ordering for delivery after March 1st doesn't know what they're paying. And that's the…
Argentina got a credit upgrade from Moodys
President Milei has now been running Argentina since 10th December 2023, and his policy of cutting back state expenditure is starting to bear fruit. He argued that loose fiscal…
China's trade surplus continues to soar
Here is the chart: source The main culprit is sluggish domestic demand in China. Chinese consumers have slammed their wallets shut, and are instead focused…
The 30-year mortgage rate in the US rose for the fourth year in a row
It ended 2024 at 6.9%. The last time mortgage rates rose for four consecutive years was in 1978 to 1981, when Paul Volcker was Chairman of the Federal Reserve and was engaged in…
The S&P has had gains in excess of 20% for three consecutive years
The S&P 500 finished 2024 up 25%. It was the third consecutive year the S&P 500 grew by more than 20%. Here is the table showing growth rates since 1928:…
The German economy has become more dependent on the USA
Twenty-five years ago, most German exports went to France and Britain, with the balance going to other members of the EU. After the Great Financial Crash of 2008 and the Eurozone…
Is the world heading towards recession?
We've seen some shock moves by central banks in the last week. First, the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates by an unexpectedly large 50 basis points to 0.5% (one of the…