Ukraine and echoes of Ken Dodd
Congratulations to Presidential hopeful Volodymyr Zelensky, a professional comedian with no political experience at all, who won the first round on Sunday. Reminds me of George Carman QC who while seeking to explain to the judge in 1989 that his client Ken Dodd should be acquitted, said: “Accountants often believe they are comedians, but comedians never believe that they are accountants.”
Better than expected China and US manufacturing data. Dow jones had a good day up 329 to 26,258. FTSE flat at 7317. WTI oil higher at $61 and gold lower at $1285. Here in the Uk the stalemate in Westminster over Brexit resulted in GBP weakening against ZAR, EUR and USD.
The AUD weakened against the USD on the back of hints of easing by the Central Bank. With Saudi Aramco’s forthcoming IPO, for the first time market watchers were able to see just how super profitable this franchise is: net income of $111 billion!
In the midst of hedge funds saying that GBP is simply too hard to trade with the brexit uncertainty, Goldman Sachs have come out this morning to say that GBP is the single greatest buying opportunity as despite the House of Commons being locked with no clear direction, GS believe that they are about to agree on a soft Brexit plus a second referendum plus a customs union, so pretty much everything that constitutes a hard Brexiter’s worst nightmare!
The Rolling Stones are postponing their tour due to ill health…must be Keith Richard you might think but no it is time for hugely fit and energetic frontman Mick Jagger to undergo heart surgery even as he sings;
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop….
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Click Here to Subscribe to the SGM-FX Newsletter
Related Insights
Daily Brief – Reckoning Days
Charles Porter
Tue 14 Jan 2025
Reckoning Days Despite it being less than one week until Donald Trump’s inauguration, markets are still fixated on the evolution of the UK’s bond market and its currency. The Chancellor may well have been hoping for some distracting headlines from the incoming President-elect. Unfortunately for her, those that have come from the Trump administration and […]
Daily Brief – Markets In Reverse – Inflation to the Rescue
Charles Porter
Thu 16 Jan 2025
Markets In Reverse – Inflation to the Rescue Particularly in the case of the beleaguered GB Pound, it may be time to do away with the textbook. Instead of attracting further demand as UK yields have risen, GBP has registered one of its worst starts to a year on record. It is a narrative of […]
Daily Brief – Germany
Humphrey Percy
Fri 17 Jan 2025
Germany In just 6 weeks Germany will vote and while Chancellor Scholz thinks that he can win, most others are equally convinced that he cannot based on his economic record alone that has seen the German economy contract by 0.3% in 2023 and by an estimated 0.2% in 2024. That on top of his ability […]
