Are we keeping the recession away from us?

Interest rate cut With economic growth slowing down globally, markets recovered from the May downturn. Principally as a result of the Fed and ECB’s actions – both promising interest rate cuts and other forms of fiscal stimulus – the good mood made a comeback. The words used by Draghi came close to his “whatever it … Read more

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This way or that way?

Limboland We are still in Limboland, and worse, we are deeper in it since last month. Limboland is a greyish country, where economic life only advances slowly. Where in spite of negative interest rates, bonds enjoy a close investor interest. Entrepreneurs and even smaller countries are staring at each other and at the major powers … Read more

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From Goldilocks to Limbo Land? And then back to Goldilocks?

Financial climate Markets are numbly floating on, this springtime. With only a few barriers and sometimes a rapid, but few markets really dried up. Especially the US continued to grow in her own Goldilocks scenario, with job creation continuing. In Asia and Europe, however, the pace is slower whereas Japan and Korea have already slowed … Read more

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First one loses hope and fear follows

Shares further up! Hovering between hope and fear is often the best times for stock markets. Fear is often a bad counselor, at least for panicking sellers, which we saw at the end of last year once more. For buyers this is often a rare opportunity. And when, one by one, the sting has been … Read more

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Back to Goldilocks?

Are we back to the Goldilocks’ scenario and can we peacefully go back to sleep, now that stock markets have recovered, the FED claims not to increase rates and Trump and Xi are seemingly looking for a deal?? Taking courage A new year, a new beginning?! But hold on, the worries of 2018 can’t be … Read more

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How code red gave us the green light

Buying equities In last months’ column, I stated that we would decide to an ‘overweight’ position in equities only at much lower prices. This statement became reality very fast by the market turmoil in December. Whereas upward price movements usually occur steadily, downward movements tend to show a wilder pattern: fear of losing money often … Read more

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Bright spots

Problems solved? The four major problems we had were: the trade-war, rising interest rates in the US, Brexit and Italy. However, these problems are changing colour from red, amber to certain shades of green. For that reason, we have –by en large – bought back the shares that we sold at the beginning of last … Read more

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When the leaves fall…

Dark clouds gathered during the month of October. Almost all imminent problems escalated: Italy, the trade wars, Brexit not to mention the interest rate hikes by the FED. Not that these problems were new, but they seemed to finally reach investor sentiment in earnest. It finally seemed to  crack. Emerging Markets had ‘broken’ already earlier … Read more

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Bluff Poker?

This is the name of the game at quite a few tables. In Italy the new government is playing with the country’s financial future and hence with the Euro. Are they bluffing? Brussels will most probably not approve their budget (a novelty) so what’s next? Will Rome take a step back and blame Brussels thus … Read more

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Is waiting of any help?

In the past, the mood on stock markets was often influenced by political entanglements. Nowadays, political upheaval no longer seems to matter and markets get used to this. It suggests that only a massive upheaval would get markets worried. Let’s call this a bull market: the general trust in the economic climate and growth in … Read more

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