Daily Brief – Asia on Fire

Asia on Fire

The TWD or Taiwan Dollar has scarcely featured in most FX traders’ consciousness until the past four weeks, when the NTD has roared up over 10%. The Korean Won has managed a respectable 6%, the Thai Baht and the Malaysian Ringgit 5% and the Singapore Dollar 4%. So what’s behind it? The Asian economies are for the first time in many decades questioning the wiseness or otherwise of investing their trade surpluses in USD assets when POTUS is doing such a masterly job of discouraging them.

EUR/USD 1.1380.

O Canada

A big day yesterday for both POTUS and newly minted Canadian PM Mark Carney, who might justifiably have believed himself to be in a parallel universe as he listened to the welcoming overtures from the President and to his stream of consciousness ,which included the Houthis with chorus line contributions from his acolytes Marco Rubio and JD Vance before Mark Carney attempted to wrest the narrative back to being Canada centric and Canada as a sovereign country. Work in Progress.

USD/CAD 1.3775.

Qatari London

A breathless report earlier this week of how the Qataris now own more of London’s real estate than HRH The King should not really come as too much of a surprise. Bearing in mind that Qatari investors have hoovered up such trophy assets as The Shard, Canary Wharf and Harrods, whereas  the Royal Family sit on non liquid monuments such as Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, St James’ Palace and Kensington Palace means that the comparison is hardly realistic. Anyway, Qatar taking a strategic decision to get much of their oil and gas related moolah offshore from Qatar some years ago and diversifying into different asset classes including real estate was more than sensible. The quantum of that Qatari investment?

GBP 40 billion: very sensible.

GBP/USD 1.3360.

Rome Rules

For those of you who want to see the white smoke that presages the election of the next Pope: proceed to the Via del Conciliazoni in Rome either at 1030hrs or 1730hrs daily as the Conclave gets under way. It may take 15-20 days or it may be a lot quicker but those are the times of the day that the successful election will be announced to the world. Those wishing to pay their respects to the recently close by at the tomb of deceased pontiff Pope Francis at Santa Maria Maggiore need to respect the dress code, which while not onerous involves the normal requirements to cover shoulders, knees and thighs and not sport flip flops, short skirts sleeveless tops or short shorts. 

GBP/EUR 1.1780.

What’s Love Got To Do With It

When Tina Turner finally walked out on her abusive husband Ike all she took in hard assets from her unhappy marriage was 36 cents and a petrol station credit card. However, what she had which was to prove infinitely more valuable was her songwriting talent, which had been suppressed by control freak Ike. This song released this day in 1984 took less than 4 months to storm to the top of the charts and Tina Turner became a global superstar and consequently hugely in demand.

You must understand, though the touch of your hand makes my pulse react
That it’s only the thrill of boy meeting girl, opposites attract
It’s physical
Only logical
You must try to ignore that it means more than that

Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

It may seem to you that I’m acting confused when you’re close to me
If I tend to look dazed, I read it some place, I got cause to be
There’s a name for it
There’s a phrase that fits
But whatever the reason, you do it for me

Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?
Who?

I’ve been taking on a new direction
But I have to say
I’ve been thinking about my own protection
It scares me to feel this way

Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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