The Economist (August 20)
The Bank of Japan expects “prices will rise by 2.3% in the current fiscal year. That would be the first time prices outstrip the bank’s 2% target since it was introduced in 2013, excluding the impact of sales-tax hikes. The covid-19 pandemic and commodity shocks from the war in Ukraine seem to have done what years of loose monetary policy could not.”
Tags: 2.3%, 2013, BOJ, Commodity, COVID-19, Pandemic, Prices, Rise, Sales-tax hikes, Shocks, Target, Ukraine, War
Bloomberg (November 1)
“China’s economy showed signs of further weakness in October as power shortages and surging commodity prices weighed on manufacturing, while strict Covid controls put a brake on holiday spending.” The purchasing mangers’ index shows “the economy is under pressure from both the supply and demand side.”
Tags: China, Commodity, Covid, Economy, Manufacturing, October, PMI, Power shortages, Prices, Spending, Strict, Supply, Surging, Weakness
Equities.com (May 30)
“Ultimately, we believe at present that the majority of important economic, financial, and market indicators, as well as the established historical pattern, suggest that a final period of rally and exuberance lies ahead before the bull market that began in March 2009 finally ends. It may be that this rally is led by smaller U.S. companies, by non-U.S. companies, or by commodity-oriented stocks. The culmination of the rally could take place later this year, or more probably be delayed until 2019 or 2020.”
Tags: Bull market, Commodity, Companies, Economic, Exuberance, Financial, Indicators, Market, Rally, Stocks, U.S.
The Economist (April 28)
“There is no consensus on what a crypto-asset is. Even within countries, authorities disagree on how to classify them. Are they a commodity, a currency, a security or their own, peculiar asset class?” The Swiss regulator, FINMA, took what may become a popular approach. FINMA’s treatment of crypto-assets will be based “on their actual function—ie, whether they are used for payments; as a utility token that gives its holder access to a specific service; or as an investment. This also means a token’s classification can change over time.”
Tags: Asset class, Authorities, Commodity, Consensus, Crypto-asset, Currency, FINMA, Regulator, Security, Switzerland, Treatment
1843 (November Issue)
“Globalisation has turned citizenship into a commodity.” Estimates suggest that each year, “several thousand people spend a combined $2bn or more…on adding a passport or residence permit to their collection.” Convenience and instability are two of the factors encouraging the acquisition of additional passports, which do not come cheap. “The required investment ranges from upwards of $10,000 (Thai residence, for instance) to more than $10m (fast-track residence in Britain).”
Tags: Citizenship, Commodity, Convenience, Globalization, Instability, Investment, Passport, Residence permit, Thailand, UK
