After several decades of low inflation, investors are now again facing probably a somewhat longer period of higher inflation. Inflation comes at the expense of purchasing power, and this touches on the main risk of investing, which is the permanent loss of wealth (purchasing power). One way to mitigate this…

Although there is a tentative agreement between President Biden and Speaker of the House McCarthy, it must still be ratified by Congress next Wednesday. The problem is that the Republican party does not exactly speak with one voice. Fifteen rounds were needed just to elect McCarthy speaker of the house…

While much of the return this year is being made by U.S. tech companies, several European indices are at or near all-time highs. There are several explanations for this. For one, the banking crisis seems to be primarily an American problem after all (Credit Suisse had major problems even before…

Last week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the last time for now. Compared to other cycles, Fed made a mess of it this time. Just over a year ago, the Fed was startled by rapidly rising inflation. Before that, it had long maintained that inflation would be a…

The debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. government is allowed to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, which also include Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds and other payments. The US Congress has continually authorized trillions of…

Ultimately, the strength of a currency depends on the strength of its underlying economy. Norway, as a major energy producer, has a strong economy and therefore a strong currency. Recently, the Norwegian currency has weakened remarkably, especially against the euro, to its lowest level in three years. Now there are…

Governments and central banks have unwittingly caused turbulence. Be careful with deposits. The curtain is falling for Credit Suisse (but not just because of increased interest rates). When inflation eases, calm will return. In recent years, governments and central banks have injected a lot of money into the economy. Some…

On Wednesday 8 March, it was announced that Silvergate bank (total assets $11 billion) will be voluntarily liquidated. With many banks refusing to get involved in cryptocurrencies, this gap was filled by Silvergate, among others. The bank, therefore, had broad exposure to the crypto industry, including FTX. Silvergate’s share price…

The US jobs report for January points to anything but a recession. Instead of 190,000 jobs, 517,000 jobs were added over January. Further, the figures were also revised upwards by 568,000 jobs since March 2022. Hourly wages rose relatively modestly by 0.3 per cent. However, people did clearly work more…