“793”…… Global merger and acquisition (M&A) deals have been completed this year as of the end of April 2017, according to “dialogic” who collates the data involving publicly traded corporations. This is 20% lower than the comparable period of 2016 and is the lowest number since 1998, which given that stock and bond markets are […]
Impeachment…..Is defined as a charge of misconduct made against the holder of a public office and they do not get any higher in the United States of America than the office of The President. The airwaves and financial talk-shops are abuzz today following the allegation that President “the Donald” Trump asked the former FBI Director […]
When Harold Wilson commenced his first stint as the British Labour Party Prime Minister in 1964, he inherited an unusually large external deficit on the balance of trade from the Conservative administration and despite fighting the markets for a couple of years, the inevitable devaluation of the £GBP came in 1967, when Wilson famously assured […]
French voters face a stark choice in Sunday’s presidential election between joining the wave of populism that has swept across the European and American political landscape over the past year or an attempt to renew the governing principles that have guided their country for decades, albeit via a 39-year-former untested Socialist turned Centrist. With the […]
“3% annualised GDP”…… Is the expectation/hope/dream set out by the new US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week, as he and his fellow ex-Goldman Sachs colleague and now White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, set out “the biggest tax reform in American history.” Tax cuts, set to slash corporate rates from 35% to […]
“7th May 2020”…… was to be the date of the UK’s next General Election, in line with the fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. However, the British Prime Minister, Teresa May, called for an 8th June 2017 snap election this week and was backed by the two-thirds majority required from the 650 MPs in the House of […]
Just nine months after British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, following his failed “gamble” on calling a referendum on EU membership, his successor Teresa May announced a snap election decision this week, to be held on the 8th June 2017, mercifully only 7 short-weeks from today and despite her denying any plans for an early […]
“Liquidity”…… is defined as a measure or extent to which a person or organisation has cash to meet immediate and short-term obligations, or assets that can be quickly converted to cash to do this. Put another way, it’s the life-blood of the markets without which they cease-up. There are numerous clues to assist in […]
In the late February overview, “¥en, a Desire to Watch Closely,” the message was “if ever there is a time to keep a very close eye on the ¥en, or more importantly the $US/¥ cross-rate, it’s now.” At the time the cross rate was 112.5 with four charts outlining the close correlation of the $US/¥ […]
“Rock On”…… is a song written by British singer/songwriter David Essex and recorded in 1973 shortly before a UK referendum took the nation into the European Union. In the week when “Article 50,” the process by which member states may withdraw from the EU, was triggered by the British Prime Minister, “Rock,” hit the news […]
Italy……the birthplace of the “Treaties of Rome,” which ushered in the European Economic Community, also labelled as the “Common Market,” is a fitting place for the great and the good of the now “European Bureaucratic Monster” to celebrate its 60th anniversary this weekend. Originally attended in Rome on the 25th March 1957 by representatives from […]
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“793”…… Global merger and acquisition (M&A) deals have been completed this year as of the end of April 2017, according to “dialogic” who collates the data involving publicly traded corporations. This is 20% lower than the comparable period of 2016 and is the lowest number since 1998, which given that stock and bond markets are not far off their all-time highs is a surprise. The hesitancy is muted to be due to Brexit and the uncertainty over US tax-reform, which may have some merit, although a “look under the bonnet” reveals that the “value of deals,” is up by 13.9% YTD, at $US480BN, much due to acquirers’ having to pay a higher multiple of about 6% more than at this time last year. Talking of deals, the “art” of which played so favourably for “the Donald,” when it was candidate Trump, was left wanting during the negotiations and settlement with the US house and Senate over the $US1.1 TR spending bill. Whilst it keeps government open until the end of September, the Democrats achieved most of their priorities whilst rejecting most of the President’s, including money to begin building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and $18 billion in cuts to domestic agencies. Time will tell whether the “Washington swamp,” really is too set in its corrupt ways or if the deal-maker is biding his time within a wider game-plan. Either way, whilst it will unsettle the markets it will be the markets that provide the catalyst to “clear the swamp.”
European stocks led the parade this week, belying any French election concerns, whilst the major US indices were dragged higher by an ever narrower handful of stocks. As shown below, it’s been another brutal week for commodities and in particularly for the “economy bellwethers’,” Copper & Silver.” For more on the week’s main data, supported by interesting charts and comment, please read on and for those who missed our last minute French election socionomic comment, it’s HERE:
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So, the Federal Reserve officials left its “target” interest rate on hold this week, within the bounds of 0.75% – 1%, whilst providing little direction ……
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“Interest rates Fall and then they Rise”
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