QUESTION:  Martin, Love your blog, especially your historical perspective. You recently responded to a viewer that we should take precious metals out of safety deposit boxes. Is there a reason for this? To my understanding the bail-in rules for banks in N.america put deposits and bonds at risk only? Thanks. ANSWER:  The contents of a […]

  The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has begun to record the fingerprints of every person charged (not yet convicted) with tax evasion. This is a move that could deny them the ability to travel to the United States. If they have a criminal tax offence that is even charged, they could not travel to the […]

While CNN and ABC news have turned really vicious against Trump, they are failing to report the real impact of world events that can undo everything. As we head into April/May, we are looking at a real crisis emerging that is beyond contemplation. The prospect of the breakup of the European Union because Brussels refuses […]

It was a mixed story in Asia today with the Nikkei still cooling after its recent performance, but given Toshiba’s performance, -3.5% again today – having missed its publishing deadline, certainly did not help confidence. The Nikkei ended the session down almost 0.5%, but we do have the Tankan to be released later this evening; […]

A little profit-taking in the Nikkei today ahead of the FED semi-annual address was to be expected but todays price fall was probably more than most expected. The Nikkei declined 1.15% in todays trading with more concerns over the alluded slowed down after Finance Minister (and deputy Prime Minister) Taro Aso remarked it may take […]

Asia benefited from new record highs in the US and really set the pace for the end of the week. The Nikkei was certainly the star performer adding 2.5% on the day taking the index to 19,400 with many talking the psychological 20k is next weeks target number. The JPY suffered against the USD falling […]

Asia was split today with the Nikkei not managing to move out of first gear – at least during the Asia session – but saw the Yen lose its haven status. The volatile Japanese data for Machinery Orders was released better than the 3.1% expected figure at +6.7% (against a previous -5.1%) did not really […]

  In the earliest days of the Republic Rome’s taxes were quite modest, and were not direct, but were a property tax or a wealth tax on all forms of property, including land, houses, slaves, animals, money and personal effects. The basic rate was just 1% and sometimes it would occasionally rise to 3%. This was to fund the […]

All core Asian indices closed higher today even as energy prices fell another 1% in todays trading. The Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai all closed +0.5% firmer on the day. Currencies were well behaved with the JPY playing around the 112 figure for the majority of the day. The dollar index (DXY) broke above the […]

We can probably count on one thing – the people from Goldman Sachs advising Trump will most likely do what they always do – assume the manipulation and “influence” is all that is needed to change the trend in the dollar. Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro has hit out at Germany and accused the country […]