2nd Quarter 2017 Review & Strategy for 2H 2017

The first half of 2017 is over, and my book remained almost unchanged from the end of 1Q 2017 to the end of June. I maintain my defensive stance, risking one-third of my usual sizing for any new positions and also gunning for lowly-correlated positions in terms of price structure as well as fundamental logic. … Continue reading 2nd Quarter 2017 Review & Strategy for 2H 2017 →

Playing the ECB’s potential tapering?

To understand the game of the financial markets, we need to understand the game masters The game masters are the central banks, as they directly influence the costs of credit in the financial and real economy, influencing the business cycles The ECB will gradually move to wind down its stimulus programme, but has to maintain … Continue reading Playing the ECB’s potential tapering? →

Playing Brexit: Long Euro & short Sterling

The Brits are officially leaving the European Union (EU), following the invoking of Article 50 and British envoy Tim Barrow handling a letter to the EU Council on the 29th of March 2017. An informative book on the subject is explored by Roger Bootle of Capital Economics, and I've found it to be highly instrumental … Continue reading Playing Brexit: Long Euro & short Sterling →

Review of 1st Quarter 2017 & Portfolio Update

While it was a decent 3 months for both broad equity and bond markets, all my trades did not work out as expected and I cut all my initial positions that were initiated in January. Additionally, a couple of my positions that were USD-denominated also saw valuations affected by the slight weakening of the Dollar against … Continue reading Review of 1st Quarter 2017 & Portfolio Update →

Betting on the Czech Koruna & the Mundell-Fleming Trilemma

Foreign exchange rates are notoriously difficult to predict over the short term, because there's a great deal of volume traded across the world by many various players (governments, corporations, individuals, etc) for all sorts of reasons. However, they are easier to see over a longer term period as they are the reflection of the interactions of … Continue reading Betting on the Czech Koruna & the Mundell-Fleming Trilemma →

Europe’s banks turning the corner?

2016's a year that has been dominated by concerns over banks, and in particular, European banks. Financial markets were spooked in January after banks like Deutsche Bank missed 4Q 2015's earnings targets by a wide margin, and solvency problems also rose as investors became concerned that banks and lenders around the world would be affected … Continue reading Europe’s banks turning the corner? →

The Greenback’s bull run may not be over… yet

Year-to-date, the US Dollar has weakened against many currencies, including the Japanese Yen, the Swiss Franc and commodity currencies like the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Dollars. This weakness has led to some commentators saying that the USD's rise since 2014 is now over. However, there exists a high probability that the greenback may roar back to … Continue reading The Greenback’s bull run may not be over… yet →