- Your history
Friday Fun : Have a laugh and jump into the abyss !
Remember those pre-2007 days ? We were all happy, lending ourselves rich, stock market was booming, sky was the limit and life was ahead of us. Unfortunately things turned out quite differently. But nevertheless, it seems that even important policy makers, being faced with difficult choices, had a great laugh too. We picked up the following graph, showing how ...
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Dear Mr(s) Credit Rator, Part II
In my previous posting dd 16/01, I forgot to mention some important leverage factors as well. I therefore take the privilege to give you an update with new numbers, taken from a very recent McKinsey study on global debt and debt deleveragingThe following chart gives you the facts on the composition of total debt across main ...
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Friday Fun: No matter what, God knows I like vegetables !
When people ask me "what do you do" and I reply "global financial markets and managing money", they stare a bit. What it means ? Well, investing and from time to time, you buy and sell x amount of bonds, equity, other assets and currency. When hearing the numbers, they blink their eyes, saying something like "I would never dare to ...
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Zuidoost-Azie: verder kijken dan onze neus lang is
China, de grootste exponent van deze regio, kampt met een dalende groei en sommige media brengen het nieuws alsof het een negatieve groei is. Ronkende titels doen het aantal lezers immers toenemen en dat is altijd goed voor de reclame inkomsten. Voor we het weten dreigen we echter straks het kind met het badwater weg te gooien en ...
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Middle East NIMBY
One of the many things not resolved yet but equally important going into 2012, is the the geo-political issue of Iran. End of late November, we reported on this story and it seems that some options have already materialized, such as the US and European embargo on Iranian oil. Or on any one doing business with Iran, in real goods or ...
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Going French on sovereign debt solutions
When the going gets tough, the tough usually gets going. In the case of the sovereign debt crisis, we have the Greek discussions with private creditors coming to a halt and a March deadline coming up (will the IMF grant a new tranche of loans ?). In the US, we are getting prepared for a repetition of the debt ceiling debate of late ...
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"Dear Mr(s) Credit Rator"
We in Europe - the old continent - have taken notice since late Friday that our credibility as a debtor has been put into question. We were warned earlier that something was waiting to happen. Now that it has materialized, I nevertheless have some questions running through my mind lately, based upon the following ...
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Friday Fun : Me, daddy and bricks in the Wall
One of the all time great movies is certainly the World according to Garp. An impossible book to film and yet the result is so funny, so tragic, so...life ? One of the small gems is the following extract in which young Garp dreams about his father hero fighter pilot, the person he never knew. And it also nicely explains child ...
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Money for nothing, de olijfboom en andere olie
Iemand betalen om je geld gedurende lange tijd bij te houden, geen zinnig mens zou dat doen, en toch is het wat deze week opnieuw met meerdere miljarden gebeurde.Duitsland sleet voor bijna 4 miljard aan obligaties en doordat de uitgifte boven pari gebeurde zorgde een lage intrestvoet ervoor dat de crediteur op vervaldatum per saldo ...



















