Trump Delivers. President Trump has announced the imposition of 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China. The tariffs will be effective immediately (Sat, Feb 1). At time of writing It is not clear whether there are exemptions (e.g. fo... Read More

Central Banks There were a few interesting things from the ECB and FOMC meetings: ECB Mme LaGarde is convinced that the Eurozone recovery is happening and will accelerate as inflation falls and real incomes rise. Real income will rise because wage increases will ... Read More

DeepSeek disrupts Tech creating as many winners (AI users) as losers (the overhyped US Magnificent 7 and Chatbot purveyors). It puts Chinese selected tech companies back on the radar for international investors. But most of all it hefts China’s strategic position in the Greyzone... Read More

DeepSeek Disruption: Tech, Economic, Geopolitical DeepSeek disruption to AI Chatbots/LLMs, like ChatGPT4 and to suppliers of AI semiconductors like Nvidia, is significant. It can also change forecasts for ever rising electricity demand from data centres. But by corol... Read More

Investment Conclusion. Exceptionalism is not just about benefits but costs. The economic policies and geopolitical disruption of the second Trump Presidency are certainly exceptional but will incur more economic costs than benefits. These costs will be spread about the worl... Read More

President Trump inauguration speech. US$ may weaken for a while due to lack of immediate imposition of tariffs (in contrast with other policies like immigration) and statement that his administration would “ begin the overhaul” of trade with foreign countries. I don’t ex... Read More

What does the Gaza ceasefire accord mean? The answer is a lot. It defines the Trump II administration’s foreign policy – peace through strength with decisive personalised interventions. It makes it clear that there’ll be no immediate Israeli attack on Iran sanctioned by the US. ... Read More

Russia Sanctions & Oil. New US Sanctions are e nough to keep Brent between US$ 80-90 bbl and to heft shipping rates for legitimate tanker fleets. A Trump embargo on Iranian oil shipments could add to pricing pressure., Russia accounts for about 13% of global crude... Read More

FOMC - the future confusion. Some FOMC members included estimates of President Trump's mooted Tariff and Immigration policies in their "dot" estimates. One did not. And some didn't say. Some argued that such policies could damage the inflation outlook. Some obviously did no... Read More

We're in for a bear market in most asset classes during 2025. This piece integrates the macro and micro reasons for that conviction. The core conviction is that macro-risk is out of synch with market volatility. This will be resolved by market volatility rising as macro ... Read More