Commodities
When Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered America’s AAA credit rating on August 5, 2011 after the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, very few thought it would take another 10 years before Fitch became the second major rating agency to do the same in August 2023 – downgraded United States of America’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to […]
... written on May 20 2025After just two days of talks (it was not even a negotiation), an agreement – despite a 90-day validity – has been reached between the United States and China in Switzerland. The best part is President Donald Trump is still waiting for a call from President Xi Jinping. That alone speaks volumes who actually has […]
... written on May 13 2025China and Canada might have their own mini trade war going on, where Beijing slapped a 100% tariff on Canadian canola oil, oil cakes and pea imports, and a 25% duty on aquatic products and pork effective March 20, 2025. It was in retaliation for Canadian 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and 25% […]
... written on May 06 2025The substantial role of central banks in the gold market continues due to their involvement in monetary policy and participation through direct purchases. In 2024, the world’s central banks collectively bought just above 1,045 tonnes of gold. It showed that for the third year in a row, purchases in net terms have surpassed the 1,000 […]
... written on May 02 2025Xi Jinping’s refusal to call Donald Trump despite the White House’s begging was not the only thing that shocked the U.S. president. Other world leaders, like Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is still lobbying for his first phone call after the POTUS had calls with almost all leaders in the Southeast Asia except him, […]
... written on May 01 2025Having manufactured a tariff crisis which has backfired in his face, Donald Trump is now scrambling to manufacture a solution – without much success. Even if the U.S. president had deliberately designed the crisis with the purpose of making money through insider trading, he does not appear to have an exit strategy in the event […]
... written on Apr 26 2025Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said – “The ball is in China’s court: China needs to make a deal with us, we don’t have to make a deal with them”. But the fact that Donald Trump sent her to make the statement instead of crowing it himself shows that the president was […]
... written on Apr 24 2025Japanese Yakuza have a unique form of extortion known as sōkaiya. Instead of harassing small businesses for protection money, the yakuza harasses the stockholder meetings of large corporations. But that was a big mistake, forcing the introduction of anti-organized crime law in 1992 and 2011. As a result, the mobsters were forced to go underground, […]
... written on Apr 21 2025Beijing has called U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy “a joke”, irritating U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Incredibly upset, the clueless and incompetent Bessent has denied it was a joke. At the same time, the arrogant man is desperately pushing for a negotiation, any negotiations, to start between his boss and Chinese President Xi Jinping. […]
... written on Apr 15 2025In all three rounds of tax hikes – from 34% to 84%, and then to 125% – since Donald Trump started his tariff war on China last Wednesday (April 2), the U.S. president actually thought he could win easily. After all, Beijing was weak during Trump’s first term eight years ago, unwilling to go full […]
... written on Apr 11 2025
