“Welcome to the New Normal”
A blog reader has kindly sent the above cartoon from the financial pages of The Telegraph newspaper today. Clearly investors are beginning to share the blog’s analysis.
Great Unwinding sees prices tumble
World markets have seen major falls since the Great Unwinding of policymaker stimulus began 2 months ago. Naturally, chemical markets have taken some of the biggest hits, given the industry’s role as a leading indicator for the…
Oil prices have further to fall as Great Unwinding continues
Oil prices are highly likely to fall further, not rebound, over the next few months. That is the blog’s conclusion to its 3-part analysis of likely developments in oil markets. Having looked at the…
OPEC faces New Normal dilemma as oil demand slows
Yesterday’s post described how OPEC oil producers are seeing their export sales to the US start to disappear. But this, of course, is only one side of the story. As the chart from the Wall Street…
Saudi oil policy shaped by defence dependence on USA
The world now faces a supply glut in almost every source of energy, including oil, gas and coal. It is also seeing major increases in output of key products including gasoline, diesel and petrochemicals. Yet as the International Energy…
“You’d have to be crazy to think the stock market isn’t crazy”
The headline above was the Wall Street Journal’s summary of last week’s market action. But was it really “crazy”? Perhaps it just felt “crazy” to those who had wanted to believe central banks’ stimulus policies could…
Chemical markets highlight economic downturn now underway
The chemical industry remains the best leading indicator for the global economy. The only problem is that most policymakers continue to ignore its obvious message about the failure of their stimulus policies to restore…
IMF says economic growth may never return to pre-crisis levels
The Great Unwinding of policymakers’ failed stimulus programmes is now clearly underway in the global economy. The headlines this week all focused on the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report: “IMF says economic…
Indian Oil join campaign to build toilets in India
The blog is delighted to be able to congratulate Indian Oil (IOC) on becoming the first company to commit to building toilets in India. In response to Premier Modi’s appeal, the chairman of…