Wells Fargo copped a $1 billion fine for selling dodgy insurance and is keeping bad company in subprime lending. Barclay’s CEO got off with just a fine for trying to unmask a whistleblower. CBA charges fees to customers for over a decade after they died. Deutsche Bank paid $35 billion... Show More
Some investors are asking if global growth is too strong yet State Street sees global investor confidence soaring. There are signs of economic stress in the US, as well as global leading indicators pointing to a negative outlook. Show More
Economic news was strong in October, led by US Q3 GDP coming at an annualised rate of 3.0%. Quarterly earnings and sales for S&P 500 companies are beating estimates by more than usual. One standout was bellwether stock Caterpillar, which after four years of declining revenue has seen sales up... Show More
Here's this month's interesting and informative media on economics, finance, government and society. Show More
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) quarterly report is always worth the read. Whilst it is academic in style and length, it consistently raises material that matters. Taken from the September report, the graphic below highlights the big issues for global corporate debt. The rest of this short article explains... Show More
Investment prices keep rising. Valuations are now well beyond long term averages for many asset classes. Pundits are increasingly calling for a big correction. Fears of overvaluation is also found in the corporate bond market. Credit spreads – the extra margin for default risk – are now notably lower than... Show More
How a one-man investigative operation exposes dodgy American companies. A US start-up gives house buyers a down payment in return for 1-3 years of Airbnb bedroom rentals. 15 reasons and 6 benefits from hiding your wealth. If you are starting out or just want a reminder, here’s 36 obvious truths... Show More
Metro Bank is the new kid on a UK retail banking scene plagued with customers fed up by lousy treatment from the largely unchallenged oligopoly of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. We take a look into why Metro is great and the industry it operates in. Show More
Another month of small gains in equities and credit, whilst commodities continued to fall back. Equities were up in Japan (2.4%), China (1.5%) and the US (1.2%) with Europe pretty much flat (-0.1%). Australian equities (-3.4%) were the standout loser. High yield and investment grade credit in the US and... Show More
The Trump rally took a breather in March with risk assets mixed. Equities were flat in the US and China, rose in Europe (5.5%) and Australia (2.7%) and fell in Japan (-1.1%). US investment grade and high yield credit gave up a small portion of the recent gains. Commodities mostly... Show More
February brought more gains for risk assets and safe haven assets. Equities rose in all major jurisdictions including the US (3.7%), Europe (2.8%), China (1.9%), Australia (1.6%) and Japan (0.4%). Credit made gains across high yield, emerging markets and investment grade. Commodities were mixed with iron ore (9.6%), gold (3.1%)... Show More
You're in your prime. Any financial missteps here are more difficult to recover from than in your younger years, and can have major implications for your retirement. Show More
Some extraordinary costs are being incurred by small miners as they face unprecedentedly tough capital market conditions. In May, gold miner Blackham Resources agreed to grant 33.3 million options as well as pay 11.5% for a $6 million loan facility. Valuing the options by conventional methods implied a total cost... Show More
Resource sector equity values have normally varied inversely with risk appetite measured by the cost of finance. The chart illustrates the historical link between the Australian small resources share price index (the red line) and the spread between CCC rated US corporate bond yields and US government 10 year bond... Show More
Why HSBC is not the horse you want to bet on: Saxo Bank's Peter Garnry VIDEO: HSBC has been trending downwards over the past two years with highly volatile performance, and Saxo Bank Head of Equity Strategy Peter Garnry is worried. HSBC posted results earlier this week, announcing a large... Show More
The Economist gave the best read of the Easter break: 5 Slumps That Shaped Modern Finance: At its core, finance does just two simple things. It can act as an economic time machine, helping savers transport today's surplus income into the future, or giving borrowers access to future earnings now.... Show More