SGM-FX insights

At the Start (of what promises to be a bumpy week for markets)   Following the major moves last week, it is as well to start with a reminder of where markets finished on Friday night ahead of the US Presidential Election: Oil having fallen by more than 10%, WTI at $35.72. The Dow at […]

European Central Bank News Conference   While economic policy was left unchanged and no further stimulus was announced yesterday, it was clear that that was firmly on the agenda for the next ECB meeting in December. As a reminder of the numbers the ECB has set aside EUR 1.35 Trillion for bond purchases in the […]

Tumble   Stock, currency and bond markets alike burst into life yesterday. Following the close of the German and French major stock market indexes some 4% in the Red, the price of assets across the globe started to reflect growing discomfort with the macro economy. US stock futures had initially shrugged off the sell-off taking […]

China Communist Party   Today is Day 3 out of the 4 Day meeting of the CCP and where the Central Committee will decide on the economic and social policy goals for the next 5 years. Announcements to watch out for: GDP goals– having missed the last 6.5% goal between 2016 and 2020, the question […]

8 – Lucky for some!   Not for others! Considered the luckiest number of all in China, the number 8 is a forbearance of prosperity and fortune. It’s pronunciation, ‘Ba’ is similar in sound to a word pronounced ‘Fa’, meaning to make a fortune. The belief in the good luck that the number 8 will […]

5G-warp speed tech for 5G or 5th Generation Users   In the hell that is Stratford City, East London on Saturday afternoon at the Apple Shop, my role as (supportive) chauffeur on the mission to secure a new IPhone 12 Pro, allowed me ample time in the queue to research what a mind bending improvement […]

US Election   With just 11 days to go to the US Presidential Election, every pundit worth his salt is drawing up the market risks and probabilities of the outcome despite the fact that no two elections can be the same. So making the assumption that more than enough has already been expended in the […]

Interference   We have become increasingly accustomed of late to sideswiping headlines gripping price action and throwing currencies in entirely opposite directions. The past 24 hours provided no respite to the torrent of headlines. But the salience and long run ramifications of yesterday’s major headlines could be far more significant than we are used to. […]

Alphabet   It sounds dry stuff at first glance but on closer study smacks of chicanery or at the very least political opportunism. But with the US Department of Justice filing an anti trust case against Alphabet’s Google two weeks before the US Election in which one of the candidates has been outspoken on holding […]

Firebreak   Ireland and Wales have both announced firebreak lockdowns designed to stop the spread of Covid-19 in its tracks. The logic is simple: with the lifecycle of the virus in humans estimated to be a little over 10 days, if every member of the population follows the lockdown perfectly the virus should be eliminated […]

China   People’s Bank of China Head, Yi Gang stated this weekend at an online banking seminar to the G30 what many in the markets already suspected: despite Covid starting in China and almost a year ago having shut down large parts of China’s economy, not only is China back and enjoying an expansion in […]

Germany   After the Great War ended in 1918, what is now Germany’s population stood at 60 million. By 2019 and 100 years later that had grown to 83 million. Looking at the graph with a succession of policies encouraging guest workers the increases have been steady and regular. For the first time in 2020 […]