Helping you navigate the new normal since 2001
It is 7 years since global stock markets bottomed after the 2008 financial crash. But as my regular 6-monthly update on their performance shows, it has been a very mixed picture since then. The chart shows how prices have moved since their pre-2008 peak in the world’s 8 major markets, and in the US 30-year […]
Global stock markets weaken as Great Unwinding of stimulus continues Read More
Very large amounts of copper, iron and other commodities are in long-term storage in China as part of the ‘collateral trade’. More recently, it seems large amounts of polyethylene (PE), ethylene glycol (MEG) and probably other chemicals have also started to be used for the trade. None of this used to matter when the Chinese economy was booming. Why […]
Eliminating the impossible in China’s polyethylene market Read More
Ms Kay Sun is a 32 year-old administrative assistant in Shanghai, earning $29k/year (Rmb180k). Last month, like many 30-somethings around the world, she put down a deposit on an apartment. But the cost of Ms Sun’s ordinary one-bed apartment was in a …