Economy

The present economic expansion is being brought about by massive stimulus policies and, as such, does not constitute genuine economic growth. Such bogus economic growth by way of monetary and fiscal stimulus can go on only until either the collapse of hyperinflation brings an end to the artificial boom or the amount of accumulated debt makes state bankruptcy inevitable.

If imports and exports are both falling, that means consumption is weak pretty much everywhere, and weak consumption means slow or negative growth which means lower corporate profits, which, if history is still a valid guide, means less valuable equities, so could it be that the markets are simply figuring this out and revaluing assets accordingly?

Don’t tie your fortune to a rising market – and I mean any kind of market anywhere on the globe. This is a time to think strategically, stay hedged and diversified, and avoid big directional bets. I think active and hedged management will be the place to be in the coming period. To quote the motto of House Stark in Game of Thrones, winter is coming...

China is only becoming more indebted, even as its economy slows down. By 2014, China's total debt reached $28 trillion, according to McKinsey & Co. That is roughly half the world's entire debt. In this article we show what's happened to Chinese debt and why people are starting to worry about it.

The following are my best economic “guesses” for the coming year, based on the statistical and technical data trends, for the market, interest rates, the dollar, employment and the economy.

The motto “In God We Trust” has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864 and began being printed on paper currency in 1957 but now another lawsuit by a prominent atheist has been filed in an effort to have the motto removed from all U.S. currency.

2016 is looking like the year in which all economic policies fail as they play out in an environment where all the other major economies are also rolling over and the U.S. Fed has just begun a tightening cycle. That makes 2016 a uniquely scary year.

It is the size, stability, and liquidity of a country’s financial markets that are the major underlying factors to determine the strength of a reserve currency and, as such, the U.S. dollar is the world’s most dominant reserve currency, making up about 64% of all official foreign exchange reserves. The USD is so dominant, in fact, that more and more countries around the world are pegging their currencies to the dollar as illustrated in this video.

The uptake & dollar value of Bitcoin has grown rapidly over the past 3 months - almost doubling its value. For 33 indicators that prove the only way is up for Bitcoin, check out our infographic below.

For more than a year now, commodity prices have been under pressure from the strong U.S. dollar and slowing global demand. This has made a huge dent in the balance sheet of many net exporters of resources, in turn weakening their currencies. What most people don’t realize, however, is just how closely some currencies track certain commodities. Below are five world currencies that have been impacted by lower commodity prices.