Category: investments
Social unrest is beginning to be perceived by the financial markets and economy as a possible trigger for the famous 2020 crisis: Demonstrations, increased public debt, budgetary crises, the redirection of debt from private to public, austerity, loss of confidence of economic and financial players, bankruptcies etc… In a context of economic slowdown, rising discontent […]
Monetary Policy – beware of the direction change The shift towards the green colour of the economic indicators linked to the reduction in trade tensions at the end of the year, combined with the rebellion against accommodative monetary policies expressed by major central bankers, suggest a proportional reversal of the trend, particularly in key interest […]
Last month, we forecast a “change of direction” in US foreign policy. With the Trump-Erdogan agreement allowing Turkey to launch a military offensive in northern Syria at the same time as a partial withdrawal of US troops from the region, we did not have long to wait. But there is no room for complacency. The […]
– Smart cities: Fundopolis? – Human-friendliness: Back to basics – Oil: the fly in the ointment – Cryptocurrencies – Cake sharing – Uber – Cheese with holes – Fee-based Internet – Whose turf? – Autonomous vehicles – AI? Yes! But… – Coffee – A Brazilian hostile takeover Smart cities: Fundopolis? The modernisation of cities consists in […]
A reminder that our recommendations are not for speculative purposes, therefore short-term, that they don’t aim to win more, but rather to lose less (even nothing) because in the case of a global systemic crisis like the one we are currently seeing, it’s the only rational objective. – Hong Kong: The harbour is under water […]
A symptom of the complete opening up of the market by the Commission that poses a threat to European food security is the acquisition of agricultural land by foreign investors, particularly Chinese investors. Indeed, the investments of the Middle Kingdom in foreign agricultural lands have jumped up in recent years. They totalled at least $94 […]
Bullion and Jewellery For centuries, gold coins and jewellery have been used as small-scale private investments and, for many people today, they remain a good place to start. It must be noted that new purchases may be subject to VAT and both purchases will carry a considerable mark-up on the daily spot gold price. However, […]
What international role does gold play today and do recent market trends and new avenues for investment reaffirm the case for including gold in a balanced portfolio? With the holiday season over and stock markets around the world still reeling from a volatile end to 2018, many investors will be wondering where best to store […]
It is time to get rid of Western Sovereign Bonds Following the previous article on the topic of US Treasuries, it seems clear to our team that it is best to avoid US government bonds at the moment. In fact, there are some more reasons we recommend that you sell all your Western states bonds. […]
General recommendation: Find shelters! You will understand when reading this issue that the clouds are gathering during the end of this year and the beginning of the next. Take out your umbrellas, raincoats and wellingtons! This is not the first time that we have alerted you this way, but the GEAB is intended to signal […]
Largely criticised by some, glorified by others, cryptocurrencies keep raising questions and represent as many threats as opportunities depending where we stand; whether on the side of citizens, institutions, businesses or governments. After a spectacular rise in valuations, we are currently witnessing a collapse in the capitalisation of most crypto-assets. The euphoria is well behind […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]