Commodities
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking during a news conference on May 4 to raise interest rate by 50 basis points, has signalled that the Fed could continue to approve increases of half a percentage point. Investors, however, spooked by earlier speculations that the rate could be up to 75 basis points, did not pay […]
... written on May 10 2022China has a huge problem – US$3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserve – the world’s largest reserves. In comparison, Japan, the country with the second largest foreign reserves, has only US$1.4 trillion (as of Feb 2022). China’s foreign assets included more than US$1 trillion in U.S. bonds and huge amounts of real estate, especially hotels and […]
... written on May 06 2022Vladimir Putin has finally made good on his threat to punish “unfriendly countries” that stubbornly and defiantly refused to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. The first casualties – Poland and Bulgaria – saw their gas supplies cut on Wednesday (April 27), coincides with a sharp rise in tensions between Western powers and Russia as the war in Ukraine enters its […]
... written on Apr 27 2022When Muhyiddin Yassin betrayed the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan and took over as Malaysia’s first backdoor prime minister on Mar 1, 2020, the local currency – Ringgit – plunged from 4.17 to 4.44 within days. It was as bad as during Najib Razak government, during which Ringgit hit a low of 4.50 as the country […]
... written on Apr 26 2022As the United States and its allies continue to pressure India to abandon, or at least maintain its distance from Russia till the Ukraine invasion is over, the Indian government has ignored the Western powers. Instead of condemning Moscow, New Delhi has instead bought more Russian oil largely due to huge discount offered by the […]
... written on Apr 20 2022For weeks since the invasion of Ukraine, the Western news media have painted Ukrainian as the winner, while the Russian as the loser. Ukrainian forces were seen as not only fiercely brave, but also invincible and undefeatable. The Russian forces, on the other hand, were being condemned as a coward, inefficient, corrupt, brutal and whatnot. […]
... written on Apr 11 2022Ruble was trading at 81.16 per U.S. dollar on Feb 23, the day before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation, sending troops into Ukraine. After the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, it triggered a massive devaluation of the country’s currency. It was so bad that Russians lined up at ATMs […]
... written on Apr 07 2022President Joe Biden has ordered a major release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months. In an effort to bring down high fuel costs, the U.S. will free up to 180 million barrels, translating to 1 million barrels of oil per day. The fact that this is the largest release […]
... written on Apr 03 2022Are you a numismatist? Individuals who find thrill in collecting old and rare coins are constantly on the lookout to add new pieces to their collections. Precious metal companies, including Lear Capital, offer an extensive range of premium gold coins that spark the interest of investors and numismatics. These pieces from the Liberty and Indian […]
... written on Apr 02 2022Is Ukraine, armed with billions of dollars worth of American weapons, really winning the war against Russia? It depends. If you restrict yourself to reading Western news media, then Ukraine is indeed winning. How can Ukrainians not win when the media keep reporting that thousands of Russian helicopters, aircrafts, drones and whatnot are dropping from […]
... written on Mar 31 2022
