Category: Magazine
Infrastructure versus sovereign bonds We have repeatedly emphasised this before: Donald Trump’s campaign promises and the probable launch of “fiscal QEs” in Europe and in the US, offer a bright future for infrastructure investments. There is no doubt that construction companies have a fabulous opportunity here and will benefit from it. Any investment in this […]
Africa! The second largest continent in the world after Asia, both in size and population[1], and also one of the poorest[2] is shaken by internal conflicts and wars. But above all, it’s a continent with one of the youngest age pyramids in the world[3]; so many opportunities open for the future and for hope in […]
Currencies: Watch out, Turbulence Ahead The currency market is particularly dangerous this year: with a dollar which has strengthened whilst Trump needs a weak currency and will do everything possible to achieve the goal; a yuan which risks at any moment to be devalued, authoritatively as we have seen, while its medium-term movement is on […]
Euro: keep believing in it! The LEAP team now believes that the more we are told about the difficulties of the euro, the more we must hear “course change needed” rather than “end of the euro coming”. Euro exit threats are mostly brandished as part of the haggling and bargaining kind of negotiations currently taking […]
The post-Brexit Europe does not need the extreme right-wings, it is already lining up with the national-European model proposed by the British. The antagonism between European and national levels, which has dramatically increased within the crisis, due to a lack of democratic anchoring at the European level, has led in just 6 months to a […]
We anticipate that this European state will face several economic, cultural and political difficulties this year and next. First, the rise of the euro will hurt German exports; the stabilisation of oil prices prohibits the oxygen balloon effect of prices declines of 2015; failure of the migrant strategy puts Germany face to face with all […]
General strategy: the eye of the storm Like we started warning in our last GEAB issue, the utmost caution is still required these days. The appearance of recovery, here and there, is either the effect of short-term communication, or sources of disruptions with unpredictable consequences (or both). Our general advice is to stay vigilant and […]
In view of China’s demographic being overtaken by India by 2022, India will use the structuring rivalry of the new world order emerging between the United States and China to advance its own interests, by operating a tactical rapprochement with Washington. This new partnership will be part of a struggle against Chinese trade surpluses and […]
Euro-diversification As part of our forecasts mentioned above on the probable reform of the common currency, we recommend people to “diversify their euros” simply by placing part of any liquid savings in euros in banks from various countries of the monetary zone. With online banks, all this is transparent, extremely quick and free of charges […]
Oil – It’s working In spite of many interests that obviously want to minimise the impact of the agreement on oil production between OPEC and its allies, and doubts related to the sustainability of the deal, it seems that Russians and Saudis are planning to extend the Vienna Agreement[1] until – at least – the […]
Oil: counter-direction The day the coalition around Saudi Arabia announced a cut of diplomatic relations with Qatar, risking the “koweitisation” of the latter, the oil prices… collapsed. This is not the first time we have noticed that outbreaks of conflict are no longer causing price surges. This fact validates the axes we have been following […]
The anticipation work must watch closely the “weak signals”, as futurists used to call them. They are accessible items of information, but hardly reflected within the media, information which provides relevant insight into major changes in society. Paying attention to those signals, interpreting them and cross-referencing them is part of the work of any decision-maker […]
The United States and Europe present striking similarities in their destinies. The way Brexit (itself a negative event) manages to free an EU paralysed by vast structural dysfunctions; Trump’s election (so traumatic for the Americans) probably provides an opportunity to redeem the country (and its partners) from a stifling allegiance system. We have repeatedly shown […]
Peer-to-peer economy 0 – Traditional Economy 1 In this GEAB bulletin the article dealing with the Airbnb and similar businesses shows that the “traditional” economy has not yet said its last word, although the peer-to-peer economy as a whole has a very bright future. A few years ago or even recently it was particularly wise […]
Three times a year, as part of its decision-making toolbox, the GEAB team prepares for you a factual map of the next four to six months. . July 2017 – June 2018: Visegrad Group – Rotating Presidency Figure 1 – Visegrad Group. Source: Wikipedia Hungary is holding the rotating presidency of the Visegrad Group […]
“Since there is no future, the wanderings of the past are back in Europe”. On this topic, our team finds interesting to identify some sort of an echo of the Continental Blockade[1] within the Brexit affair. There will be of course no strict parallel, but this parallel might show that Brexit is at least as […]
Strategic recommendation: remain covered Even though this GEAB bulletin is optimistic and sees the end of the transition tunnel focused on peace in the Middle East, we shall keep our warning of the last two months: remain covered until the end of the year! We are in the middle of a global geopolitical reconfiguration era, […]
China’s decision to introduce in 2018 the gold-convertible petro-gazo-Yuan currency is an important step in the process of internationalisation of the Yuan. It confirms the will of Beijing (asserted for a decade already) to impose the Renminbi (official name of the Chinese currency) as new global reference currency. In October 2016 the IMF decided to […]