SGM-FX insights

Apart from being National Farmers Day globally, today is a public holiday in the USA to celebrate Columbus Day and the discovery of what in 1492 was the New World….   Cyprus and the EU   Later this week the EU meets to discuss an agenda that includes the imposition of sanctions against Belarus for […]

sPain   Distress in the Eurozone is normally reflected in financial markets by rising spreads between peripheral (read: Italian) and core (read: German) assets. The so-called ‘BTP spread’ measures the cost of borrowing money in Italy versus in Germany and is one of the key barometers of European financial stress and risk. In fact this […]

US Dollar   Longer term and by that I mean in the 6 to 12 month time horizon it is looking increasingly likely that USD will weaken substantially due to two key factors: firstly, domestic savings are falling faster and the savings ratio is lower than at any time in the past 70 years, and […]

One Million   The official coronavirus death count has now risen above one million. This toll counts diagnosed cases of the virus where the new coronavirus has been listed as a cause of death. Frequently a nation’s death toll from COVID-19 has been subject to politics and a steep learning curve across the globe when […]

Hospitality Sector   In July this year UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak came up with a novel way to get diners to return to cafes and restaurants with his Eat Out to Help Out Scheme. But as time goes on, restaurants are needing to become more inventive and this week the winner (so far) has been […]

Tin   As demand for electronic goods slumped at the beginning of LockDown, tin fell to $12,700 in March. The bulk of tin – more than half-is used as solder in electronic products to connect components. By the beginning of this month, tin had risen to over $18,000 but having now slid back to $17,500 […]

Double Digits   Hold onto your hats, there’s only 99 more days of 2020. For many, this year has been one they wish they could forget. For many of those, however, it will be the year they cannot. But will 2021 provide greener grass? Johnson’s admonition to the public that new Coronavirus measures could be […]

It is what it is   Yesterday, as virus fears closed in on London’s financial markets the value of the Pound Sterling, as well as UK equities, has stumbled. The sell-off in London’s FTSE 100 was echoed on Wall Street with major US indices closing in the red. Commodity prices also took a step lower […]

Botswana   You don’t need Alistair Mcall Smith’s Number One Ladies Detective Agency to figure out this one….   Home to the Jwneng open cast diamond mine, the world’s richest, Botswana is looking beyond diamond mining as to how it will support its population of 2.3 million once diamonds are exhausted-production is already down-production of […]

Italy   The EU Recovery Fund is a colossal EUR 750 Billion or USD 890 Million and a good slug-probably EUR 290 Million or USD 340 Million- is destined for Italy as being one of the hardest hit economies by Covid. The Italian optimists are excited at the prospect of spending on the crumbling transport […]

OPEC   Today is OPEC’s 60th birthday and on this day in 1960 it was founded in Baghdad, Iraq with 5 members. Today headquartered in Vienna since 1965, there are 15 members and the alliance is no less fractious than it was in its youth. WTI at the end of last week stood at $37 […]

Delphic words from ECB President Lagarde   For someone who espouses clear communication, Christine Lagarde gave a masterclass in opacity on the future path of the EUR exchange rate yesterday at the ECB press conference. Markets cautiously pushed EUR higher while CL was speaking to give the ECB the message that they would continue to […]