U.K. inflation unexpectedly slowed in December, cooling to the Bank of England's 2 percent target for the first time in more than four years. Consumer-price growth eased from 2.1 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for it to remain unchanged. Downward pressure from food prices including fruit an...Read More
Gold to tank in 2014: Goldman Sachs … Bad news for "gold-bugs"—bullion's current beginning-of-the-year rally will not only lose steam, but prices could drop sharply by the end of 2014, according to Goldman Sachs' Jeffrey Currie. Currie, Goldman's head of commodities research, told CNBC on Monday he had an end-of-year price target of $1,050 per ounce for gold, a 16...Read More
U.K. inflation unexpectedly slowed in December, cooling to the Bank of England's 2 percent target for the first time in more than four years. Consumer-price growth eased from 2.1 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for it to remain unchanged. Downward pressure from food prices including fruit an...Read More
Gold to tank in 2014: Goldman Sachs … Bad news for "gold-bugs"—bullion's current beginning-of-the-year rally will not only lose steam, but prices could drop sharply by the end of 2014, according to Goldman Sachs' Jeffrey Currie. Currie, Goldman's head of commodities research, told CNBC on Monday he had an end-of-year price target of $1,050 per ounce for gold, a 16...Read More
Swiss inch towards renminbi hub … News that Switzerland's central bank recently opened talks with its Chinese counterpart to swap currencies has raised Swiss hopes of attaining a renminbi hub status. But Switzerland is playing catch-up with rivals that share the same ambition. – SwissInfoDominant Social Theme: The Swiss really need the validation of the renminbi …Free-Market...Read More
Federal Reserve Said to Probe Banks Over Forex Fixing … The Federal Reserve is investigating whether traders at the world's biggest banks rigged benchmark currency rates, raising the risk that firms will be penalized for lax controls as regulators look for wrongdoing. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: The Fed is on the case of these evildoers.Free-Market Analysis: Another ridiculou...Read More
Swiss inch towards renminbi hub … News that Switzerland's central bank recently opened talks with its Chinese counterpart to swap currencies has raised Swiss hopes of attaining a renminbi hub status. But Switzerland is playing catch-up with rivals that share the same ambition. – SwissInfoDominant Social Theme: The Swiss really need the validation of the renminbi …Free-Market...Read More
Federal Reserve Said to Probe Banks Over Forex Fixing … The Federal Reserve is investigating whether traders at the world's biggest banks rigged benchmark currency rates, raising the risk that firms will be penalized for lax controls as regulators look for wrongdoing. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: The Fed is on the case of these evildoers.Free-Market Analysis: Another ridiculou...Read More
Money Reporter, MPL Communications Inc.133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846U.S. investors made out like banditsThe final numbers are now in, and it turns out that the S&P/TSX Composite Index had a pretty good 2013, despite being in the red for much of April and all of June and early July. On December 31, 2012 the TSX closed at 12433.53, and on December 31, 2013 it closed at 1...Read More
A Bullish Case For Janet Yellen, Our Confused New Fed Chairman … As is well known now, Janet Yellen was confirmed last Monday as Fed Chairman. On its face, this should concern those who desire economic growth … But Janet Yellen is a walking, talking economic fallacy in the mold of her soon-to-be predecessor in Ben Bernanke, and left to her own devices she could doubtless do a lot of da...Read More
India women's group seeks limit on gold given at weddings … The women's commission of India's Kerala state is seeking to limit the amount of gold given at weddings to no more than 80 grams to reduce the burden on families and help ease India's trade deficit. Most Indians see gifts of gold, mostly jewellery, from the bride's family to the groom as auspicious for a marriage...Read More
A Bullish Case For Janet Yellen, Our Confused New Fed Chairman … As is well known now, Janet Yellen was confirmed last Monday as Fed Chairman. On its face, this should concern those who desire economic growth … But Janet Yellen is a walking, talking economic fallacy in the mold of her soon-to-be predecessor in Ben Bernanke, and left to her own devices she could doubtless do a lot of da...Read More
India women's group seeks limit on gold given at weddings … The women's commission of India's Kerala state is seeking to limit the amount of gold given at weddings to no more than 80 grams to reduce the burden on families and help ease India's trade deficit. Most Indians see gifts of gold, mostly jewellery, from the bride's family to the groom as auspicious for a marriage...Read More
What's behind the sudden outburst of populism in the Democratic Party? Partly the weak economic recovery. Most economic indicators have turned positive – economic growth is up, unemployment down, the housing market is in recovery. But ordinary Americans are not feeling it. In last month's CNN poll, two thirds of Americans said the nation's economy was poor. More than half expect...Read More
UK homeowners caught in EU's tangle of green targets … European laws to boost renewable energy have failed and may be rewritten … European Union legislation influences or determines almost all aspects of energy production and use. Increasingly over the past five years, it has been widely criticised for setting clashing targets and competing objectives that have undermined living st...Read More
What's behind the sudden outburst of populism in the Democratic Party? Partly the weak economic recovery. Most economic indicators have turned positive – economic growth is up, unemployment down, the housing market is in recovery. But ordinary Americans are not feeling it. In last month's CNN poll, two thirds of Americans said the nation's economy was poor. More than half expect...Read More
UK homeowners caught in EU's tangle of green targets … European laws to boost renewable energy have failed and may be rewritten … European Union legislation influences or determines almost all aspects of energy production and use. Increasingly over the past five years, it has been widely criticised for setting clashing targets and competing objectives that have undermined living st...Read More
Investor's Digest of Canada, MPL Communications Inc.133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846- Edited from an article by Elvis PicardoThe TSX Composite Index turned in a good performance in 2013, gaining 9.6 per cent for the year - 12.5 per cent, if you include the index's 2.9 per cent dividend yield. Yet, this pales when compared with 2013's star performers such as Japan's Nikkei...Read More
Investor's Digest of Canada, MPL Communications Inc.133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846 Tyler Reardon and Jeff Martin think the world of Canadian Natural Resources Inc. (CNQ-TSX, $34.58). Both gents are analysts with Peters & Co. in Calgary. And they view Canadian Natural's cash flow as one of the best among the big oil and gas plays.They also cite the company's strong ov...Read More
On January 6, Janet Yellen will likely be confirmed as the next Chair of the Federal Reserve System. Her to-do list will be full of things like the interest rate, the bank bailouts, the unemployment rate, and in general, running the economy. Climate change would be an unexpected addition to that list, but the Fed Chair is in an important and rarely recognized position to take action on the climate...Read More