Hungary has come through the financial crisis as somewhat of an unusual success story. As the country entered the Great Recession saddled by the largest external debt burden in the European region, its bonds, equity markets and currencies took a major hit which lasted years. Hungary became the country that analysts loved to hate, as the poor economic outlook was…
Brazil is a macroeconomic and political hot mess at the moment, experiencing a deep recession and a political quagmire reaching to the Presidency. Despite this, after a horrendous performance in 2015, Brazil’s currency the real performed best in the world for the first quarter of 2016 surging over 10% against the US dollar, and both equity and debt markets rallied…
Japan represents an anomaly among the world’s economies, and while its economic characteristics haven’t changed much over the last few decades, the performance of its various asset markets has definitely gone through major gyrations. The economy is unique in that it has barely grown for decades, suffers from an aging population and poor demographics, and has had near zero inflation…
Officials from the G20 – the group of twenty of the arguably most economically significant countries in the world – meet twice a year to discuss important global issues and to suggest possible policy responses. For financial markets, these events are often observed but are typically of little consequence to investors; by the time governments get around to meeting and…
If you live in Coastal California, you don’t need national housing statistics to tell you that the housing market is in good shape – stick a “For Sale” sign in the yard and there are dozens of offers within a few days. If you are a seller or homeowner in the some of the less-than-hot spots, you can still take…
If you live in the United States, chances are you won’t be seeing negative interest rates at your local bank, at least for the foreseeable future. However, citizens in Europe and Japan face a real possibility of facing negative rates at their bank branches, as central banks in nine large countries have now set key rates below zero. Meanwhile, negative…
By now, many of us are experiencing a range of emotions regarding the ongoing sell-off in global stock markets. Only in rare cases does it make sense to panic and get rid of your holdings. Using my own professional and personal investment experience over the last few decades, I’ve put together a list of ten actionable items that may help.…
In just 15 trading days, oil prices have managed to plunge another 20%, after a fall of 29% in 2015 and 44% in 2014. While markets took these drops in stride in the past few years, something seems different about the volatile plunge so far in 2016. Why are oil prices so low? And why are the world’s asset markets…
When I think of all the mayhem that is currently Chinese markets, I picture the old Dutch proverb about the boy who sticks his finger in the leaking hole of a dam, only to be besieged by more holes bursting through. In my analogy, the surging water represents the Chinese economy, and the dam represents the central government’s mass of…
A new era is beginning in Argentina, now that the Kirchner dynasty was finally voted out of office in November. President Mauricio Macri has vowed extensive change for the country, in areas ranging from foreign policy to the domestic economy, advocating an increased role for the private sector at the expense of a reduced role for the government. Argentine assets…
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