Yang Wen-li’s Dilemma – Democracy, Revolutions & thoughts on Financial Markets

In Yoshiki Tanaka's epic science fiction thriller, 'The Legend of the Galactic Heroes', Yang Wen-li is caught between the horns of a difficult dilemma. Staring at the vast open space of stars from his flagship's bridge, the awkward but astute admiral contemplates the never-ending wars between his home planetary system (the democratic Free Planets Alliance) … Continue reading Yang Wen-li’s Dilemma – Democracy, Revolutions & thoughts on Financial Markets →

Reviewing 2018, & what’s next?

It's time for a review of 2018, and I have to say that I managed to protect my capital (which is great and am fortunate) but I did not capitalise aggressively on opportunities that I was aware of. But for both Wall Street and Main Street and for investors who have to be invested from … Continue reading Reviewing 2018, & what’s next? →

Weekly Observations: Central Bankers as Gamemasters

An excerpt from a week's journal: 20 August 2018: Observations & Thoughts Today was generally a risk-on environment, with Chinese equity indexes leading the way in Asia Pacific (Japan and South Korea lagged). Indian equities continued to climb higher. The Yuan has also somewhat stabilised and has strengthened against the USD since last week. Chinese … Continue reading Weekly Observations: Central Bankers as Gamemasters →

Weekly Observations

An excerpt from a week's journal: Weekend 4 - 5 August 2018: Observations & Thoughts What a crazy week of a series of risk-off days. It’s time to reassess the macro liquidity landscape: US high yield bond credit spreads remain under control and are still relatively tight: The Chicago Fed’s ANFC Index is still at … Continue reading Weekly Observations →

Homer’s Odyssey: a Lesson for Investors!

While I was serving my term of mandatory military service in the Singapore Armed Forces, I read a piece of classical Western literature that was breathtaking in its scope and entirety. 'The Odyssey' from the Greek poet Homer captivated my imagination of a world of brave warriors, spectacular battles, treacherous seas, and perilous journeys across … Continue reading Homer’s Odyssey: a Lesson for Investors! →

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? →

Review of ‘Long & Short: Confessions of a Portfolio Manager’

Investor Lawrence Creatura recently published a book where he shared his insights from more than 2-decades worth of valuable experience. The author titled his book: 'Long & Short: Confessions of a Portfolio Manager'. Reading such books allows one to shorten the learning curve by learning from the experience of others, so I decided to give the book … Continue reading Review of ‘Long & Short: Confessions of a Portfolio Manager’ →

Deleveraging crisis ahead?

In 2008, (most) people all around the world were caught up in a rude shock as they see one of the worst financial crisis crashed upon the shores of their countries. Equity markets everywhere crashed, millions of jobs disappeared and banks all around the world had to be bailed out by governments. Even the British Queen (Elizabeth … Continue reading Deleveraging crisis ahead? →

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 →