Big news this week has been the fallback in oil prices to WTI at $61. All eyes in the US and globally on the tea leaves following the Fed’s remarks this week and of course the forthcoming employment data. Bank of England upbeat about UK employment and Governor Carney said yesterday that once Brexit resolved(sic) rates may rise faster than anticipated thereby skirting around the uncomfortable fact that the BoE has been consistent-that is consistent to date in overstating the economic downturn following the EU Referendum 3 years ago.
The Role of Belgium in Europe – hold the front page!
This is, we stress, not a Jeremy Clarkson type diatribe (!) on Belgium’s role other than that of hosting the European parliament, Charles Michel the Belgian PM is setting out his stall as the bridge or le pont between Germany and France plus if that was not enough, positioning Belgian as the EU member that calls for a common European vision to counter populism. On top of that Belgium advocates peer group reviews for each country to evaluate the other EU members for their respect of the rule of law for the rights of their citizens and the health of their democracies. Phew! Does one detect a whiff of management consultants par excellence McKinsey?!
Call in their most famous export, Hercule Poirot tout de suite!
Blame it on Brexit journalism suggests that fewer Brits are going abroad this year. Top foreign holiday destinations remain:
1.Spain
2. Turkey
3. Greece
4. USA
5. Cyprus
Heady excitement from the lady on the counter that the sales of Egyptian Pounds through the Post Office have increased 687% in the past year. From a low base and still a small slice of the tourism pie however…..
Walk like an Egyptian….
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Gold With Gold accounting for the second highest proportion of Central Bank reserves after the USD and the mood music shifting to it assuming a greater influence on future reserves management, it is worth looking at the numbers behind that. In the 1960s, Central Banks held the highest amount historically of 38,000 tons of gold. […]
US Dollar Markets not liking POTUS pontificating on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy on Wednesday, and less still on his view about the competence or otherwise of Chairman Powell. Given the past few weeks, the betting is that Powell’s time is over either being replaced or having a Trump nominee second guessing him but […]
NATO This week sees the 32 member countries of NATO convening in The Hague for the annual meeting which this time unsurprisingly is going to attract rather more in the way of news coverage than it has in previous years. The ECFR or the European Council of Foreign Relations has just completed a poll of […]