After markets closed on December 23rd, MicroStrategy shocked the world by filing a proposal to increase its number of authorized Class A shares by a staggering 10 billion, equivalent to approximately 97% dilution for current shareholders (SEC Filing). Crazy, isn’t it? Indeed, but there’s definitely more to this than meets…
Category:Macro
FARTCOIN IS THE LATEST PROOF OF HOW DIAMETRICALLY WRONG CENTRAL BANKS POLICIES ARE
As I write, “Fartcoin” is worth more than HALF A BILLION USD, and many observers are shocked by the meteoric rise of this crypto meme coin. Why are people willing to pay to buy Fartcoin? The answer is very simple: there is so much excess liquidity sloshing around in the…
WHY SOUTH KOREA IS OFFERING A PREVIEW OF GERMANY’S ECONOMIC IMPLOSION
Despite being geographically very distant from each other, South Korea and Germany are, in reality, more similar economically speaking than everyone thinks. Both countries appear “very safe” considering the very low public debt-to-GDP ratio they both showcase: 46% for South Korea and 62% for Germany. What if we add private…
HOW A FIAT CURRENCY SYSTEM DIES OF A THOUSAND CUTS
The result of the US elections should have rung warning bells everywhere in the world, but apparently, it didn’t. Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea – the list of economies that persist in feeding asset bubbles is long. The US is still part of it, considering the market is forcing (sorry,…
IS THE GREAT AGE FOR FINANCIAL CRIME COMING TO AN END?
The past 4 years of the US Biden administration have been disastrous, to say the least, but that isn’t the whole story. In many articles, I did my best to highlight how financial criminal activity was running wild and in plain sight, with authorities turning a blind eye to it….
MARKETS ARE QUIET – TOO QUIET
This is supposed to be a “quiet” week ahead of US Thanksgiving that ushers in the last month of the year when no money manager is willing to spoil their performance and put their year-end bonus in danger by trying to make changes in asset allocation. The VIX term structure…
WHY A HEALTHY ECONOMY IS BAD FOR BANKS AND SHADOW BANKS BUSINESSES
Imagine a world where people only spend what they earn or where companies borrow to build new factories and use the additional revenues generated to repay the debt. Imagine a world where you have to plan and save enough money in advance to make an expensive purchase or where governments…
BRACE FOR IMPACT: WHY MARKETS MAY FACE A VOLATILITY STORM AFTER THE 2024 US ELECTION
Finally, here we are with only one day left until the end of the most tragicomic US Presidential campaign ever. So far, investors do not seem too concerned about it, considering the shape of the VIX curve. Yes, some have put some hedging in place, but as you can see,…
MARKET EUPHORIA VS. ECONOMIC REALITY: GLOBAL STOCKS SOAR AS CRACKS DEEPEN BENEATH
To be completely honest, when I saw what happened today in the first minutes of trading in the Japanese stock market, my jaw dropped to the floor. I could not believe my eyes, literally. The outcome of Japan’s elections has been quite bad, with the government in charge effectively now…
CRE CRISIS: HIDDEN LOSSES AND QUESTIONABLE OPTIMISM IN DEUTSCHE BANK’S Q3-24 REPORT
How is it possible that Deutsche Bank’s provisions for credit losses related to Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans DECREASED by 34% compared to Q2-24? No, I am not joking; it is right there hidden in the fine print of the bank’s Q3-24 report as you can see below. Furthermore, “The…