World Stocks Drop But Europe Shrugs off Oil Slide, China Money Market Surge

World Stocks Dropped – Fall in Oil Prices/Rush in Chinese Yuan Deposit Rate

World stocks, on Tuesday fell for the fifth straight day anchoring near its lowest level in over two years making investors upset due to the fall in oil prices as well as a rush in offshore Chinese Yuan deposit rates. However, the European stocks recovered from initial weakness due to a rally in the retail segment. Strong seasonal updates had been posted by British companies in particular, lifting the FTSEuroFirst 300 up from three month low.

According to analyst, the People’s Bank of China had earlier compelled overnight, deposit rates in Hong Kong to 66.8% in order to overcome the heavy downward pressure on the Yuan, which was a severe measure essential in cooling the Chinese market volatility Deflation cautious investors in Asia avoided equities and pushed the value of the safe-haven Japanese yen, as oil slipped closer to dropping below $30 a barrel for the first time in 12 years.

Chief market analyst at Avatrade in London, Naeem Aslam informed that `investors in Europe are shrugging off some of the anguish around the Chinese market sell-off and showing some resilience today despite the up and down swings in Asia.

Slowdown in Global Economy/Volatile Chinese Markets

The FTSEuroFirst 300 was up 0.6% at 1,342 points, at 0900 GMT, only its second rise this year while Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5%, Germany’s DAX was up 1.1% and France’s CAC 40 rose by 0.8%. The shares in Morrison’s rushed 12%, while Debenhams climbed 15% and Tesco rose 5%. The broadest gauge of world stocks of MSCI was however down 0.2% and had not risen since Dec 29. MCSI’s broadest index of the shares of Asia-Pacific outside Japan was 0.4% lesser just cautious of its lowest level in 4 years.

 Since the beginning of 2016, it is down more than 9%. Japan’s Nikkei had closed at 2.7 lower at its lowest level in about a year while U.S. futures aimed to a fall of about 0.3% at the open on Wall Street. With the investors still recovering from last year’s drop in global community prices together with sharp sell-off in Chinese markets, 2016 seems to have brought more pain for investments portfolios by way of developing slowdown in the global economy together with volatile Chinese markets. Beijing by setting another firm fix for its currency has eliminated the gap between offshore and onshore Yuan exchange rates.

China Continues to Inspire Degree of Stability

This was intended to encourage state banks in buying up Yuan in Hong Kong, driving up the overnight deposit rate fixing to 66.8%. According to Mitul Kotecha, currency strategist at Barclays in Singapore, `China continues to inspire a degree of stability after the sharp volatility at the start of the month by announcing stable to firmer fixings.

 Tighter liquidity had contributed to a squeeze on long USD/CNH positions and would mean investors tend to be guarded of shorting CNH in the near term’. Weakness in the commodity market from the start of the year had showed no indication of easing though as Brent and U.S. crude futures had fallen around 2% to new 12-year lows and both played with a break below $30 a barrel.

Money market futures are beginning to price out this year, the opportunity of multiple hikes in rates by the Federal Reserve, with just around 50% chance of a second hike price. Futures had been fully pricing in two rate increases at the beginning of the year.

Storm Clouds Gather Over Global Economy as World Struggles to Shake Off Crisis

IMF Framed Forecast – 2015, UK Growth Among Downgrades

According to the International Monetary Fund, Britain is among some of the shining lights in the global economy and as the world views, the slowest period of growth since the financial crisis. The IMF framed up its forecast in 2015, for UK growth among downgrades `across the board’ for emerging and advanced economies.

It stated that China’s slowdown, dropping commodity prices together with an expected increase in the interest rate in US would tend to weigh on output. It is now expected that the world economy would expand by 3.1% in 2015 from a forecast of 3.3% in July. Since 2009, this would represent the slowest expansion when the global growth came to a halt.

According to the IMF’s chief economist, Maurice Obstfeld, who stated that `six years after the world economy came from its broadest and deepest post-war recession, the holy grail of robust as well as synchronised global expansion remains elusive.


Inspite of differences in country specific outlooks, the new forecasts tend to mark down expected near-term growth marginally though nearly across the board. Besides, downside risks to the world economy seems more pronounced than it was a few months back’

Risk of Recession over Next Year

The Fund had also cautioned that the risk of recession in the US, Eurozone as well as Japan over the next year seemed to have increased in the past six months since emerging markets face a fifth year of slow growth.

The year of weak demand as well as anaemic productivity development meant the probability of damage to the development on medium term was a great concern, warns IMF. Further drop in global demand would be leading to near stagnation in advanced economies should emerging markets tend to continue faltering, it added.

The UK economy is anticipated to grow by 2.5% this year, slightly up on the IMF’s forecast of July by 2.4% and its expectation for 2016 growth remained unchanged at 2.2%. IMF had stated in its latest World Economic Outlook that `in the United Kingdom constant steady growth is anticipated which is supported by lower oil prices as well as constant recovery in wage growth’.

Fund Cautions – Countries Need to Be Prepared for Higher Interest Rate

The outlook also portrayed US growth for 2015 had been higher than expected three months back when Italy envisaged upgrades for 2015 as well as 2016. The biggest economy of the world is expected to lead growth in the G7 this year but the UK and US economies have shown indications of slowing down, recently. The latest health-check of IMF portrays that it anticipates the UK government to balance its books by 2020.

Mr Obstfeld had stated that the UK and the US seemed `not totally immune’ to a probable slowdown in China but were less open than countries with closer trade connections. As per the Bank of England, should China’s grown be 3% lower over the next three years than it present forecast, it would knock 0.1% off the growth of UK.

IMF has stated that the risk of a recession would now be higher in the Latin America 5 – Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru when compared to the rest of the world group. The Fund has informed that countries need to be prepared for higher interest rates in the US which is expected by the turn of this year. It also added that the Bank of England would probably raise rates by 2016.

Global Crisis – Threat for Several Financial Institutions

Global crisis had created a threat for several financial institutions during the last few years. A pioneering peer to peer foreign exchange – FX, fintech startup - Kantox which is a platform for businesses, grew 250% in 2014 achieving its biggest transaction earlier, when one of its clients transferred US$29 million through the online platform. What could have been the secret of its success inspite of the uncertainty of global economic?

While the import-export businesses lost faith on traditional banks, Kantox provided an alternative solution in managing foreign exchange risks via a business model which was based on transparency. While businesses were on the lookout for no-banking solutions, this fintech startup became a feasible alternative as an online managing platform as well as a way to reduce costs, making the procedure an easier one.

As per the Co-founder and CEO, Philippe Gelis, the foreign exchange market had a setback from several transparency issues and was in need of urgent restructure. Gelis together with his partner Antonio Rami worked as a team as consultants in Deloitte and planned to develop an alternate option.

Kantox – Tools to Manage Currency Exchanges

Gelis had commented that `the aim was to be trusted as a competitive and transparent platform by financial directors and they wanted to provide them a different option’. The tools were provided by Kantox for the clients to enable them with improvements in managing their currency exchanges as well as consulting services from professionals.

Kantox presently transfer funds to 1,000 clients all across 18 countries in over 25 currencies. Gelis explains that `at the moment, growth is their goal and knowing now the needs of the clients, they have a clearer idea of the market and how to differentiate from their competitors’.

Gelis finds it important to be ambitious and a race for growing up. He states that `when one is immersed in business, they have the feeling that the developing process is long and one would want to grow faster though the process needs time’. Though the fintech space is still in its early development, there are several potential clients for new fintech startup and new business options like Kantox who are striving to compete with banks in foreign currency exchange.

Driving Down Cost/Administration Time

Kantox originated out of the idea of dis-intermediating banks as well as brokers from the foreign exchange procedures, driving down cost and administration time for companies and according to Gelis, instead of trading via a bank or broker, with this fintech startup, two trusted companies tend to trade with each other directly with transparency.

His challenge is to reach 20 percent of the market share in the next ten or twenty years and that `the fintech sector has been changing fast with new business solutions to be included in the whole updated structure. He further states that they are educating the market on these new solutions where the sector is monopolized by banks who own 99 percent of the market and their business model is quite a new alternative.

He adds that the global crisis largely affected the fintech sector and that they believe it was time to change the finance industry introducing the transparency, fairness and efficiency. These changes could come up though it would have a profound positive consequence on the global finance industry as well as economy and technological innovation is and will continue to be the vehicle for this change.

The hurdles Fed has to overcome!

The persistent weakness of the U.S. economy - where deleveraging public and private sectors continues - has led to a stubbornly high unemployment and a lower than normal growth. The effects of austerity - a sharp increase in taxes and a sharp drop in public spending since the beginning of the year - further undermine economic performance. Indeed, recent data have silenced some officials of the Federal Reserve, who hinted that the Fed could start out the third round of quantitative easing, which is currently underway for a period indefinite. Given the low growth, high unemployment which fell only because discouraged workers are now leaving the workforce and inflation well below the goal of the Fed is not the time to begin to constrain liquidity. The problem is that liquidity injections by the Fed are not generating credit to finance the real economy, but to stimulate borrowing and risk-taking in financial markets. The bond sloppy risky under contractual commitments vague and excessively low interest rates is increasing, the stock market hit new highs, despite the slowdown in growth and the money goes mass to emerging markets high yield. Even the periphery of the Euro area has wall of liquidity triggered by the Fed, the Bank of Japan and other major central banks.

Because interest on state of the United States, Japan, the UK, Germany and Switzerland to absurdly low levels bond yields, investors are in a global search for yield. It is perhaps too early to say that many risky assets have reached bubble levels, and the levels of debt and risk-taking in financial markets have become excessive. However, the reality is that it is likely that credit bubbles and asset / equity form in the next two years, due to the accommodative U.S. monetary policy. The Fed has indicated that QE3 would continue until the labor market has improved enough probably early 2014, providing an interest rate of 0% until unemployment has dropped to less than 6.5%. Even when the Fed will begin to raise interest rates at some point in 2015, it will proceed slowly. In the previous tightening cycle that began in 2004, the Fed needed two years to normalize the policy rate. This time, the unemployment rate and household debt and public are much higher. A rapid normalization - such as realized in the space of a year in 1994 - would cause a crash in asset markets and the risk of a hard landing for the economy. But if financial markets already tend to bubble now, imagine the situation in 2015, when the Fed will begin to tighten its terms, and in 2017 at the earliest, when the Fed has completed the process of tightening. The last time interest rates have summers too low for too long during 2001-2004, and the normalization of rate thereafter was too slow, which had formed a huge credit bubble, housing and stock markets.

 We know the end of this film, and we may be ready to see more. The weakness of the real economy and the labor market, as well as high debt ratios, suggest the need to exit the monetary stimulus slowly. But a slow output may create a bubble of credit and asset as important as the previous one, if not more. The search for stability in the real economy, it seems, could again lead to financial instability. Some at the Fed - as chairman Ben Bernanke and Vice Chairman Janet Yellen - argue that policymakers can pursue two objectives: the Fed will raise interest rates to slow economic stability, while preventing financial instability (bubbles and credit created by the high liquidity assets and low interest rates) through supervision and macro-prudential regulation the financial system. In other words, the Fed will use regulatory instruments to control credit growth, risk taking and debt. But another faction of the Fed - led by Governors Jeremy Stein and Daniel Tarullo - argues that macro-prudential tools have not been tested, and that the debt limit in a part of the financial market only pushes liquidity elsewhere. Indeed, the Fed regulates banks, so that the liquidity and debt migrate to the informal banking system if bank regulation is stricter. As a result, Stein and Tarullo argued that the Fed has only one instrument of interest rates to tackle all the problems of the financial system. But if the Fed has only one effective instrument - interest rates - the two objectives of economic and financial stabilities cannot be pursued simultaneously.

Either the Fed continues the primary purpose of keeping rates low for longer and to standardize very slowly, in which case a huge credit bubble and assets would form in time, either the Fed focuses on the prevention of instability financial and increases interest rates much faster than the low growth and high unemployment have also requested, thus stopping an already sluggish recovery. Exit policies QE and zero interest rates the Fed will be treacherous: a too quick exit would cause a crash in the real economy, while a slow start out by creating a huge bubble and then cause a crash the financial system. If the output can be operated successfully partisan compromise Fed is more likely to create bubbles.

Will the downtrend in Gold continue?

Will the downtrend in Gold continue?

After testing a high of 1226 USD Gold has reacted from that high to test a recent low of 1100. A 126 USD decline is a significant decline from the high. Such a decline in the past 6 months was not seen.
Previously I have been advocating that we are developing a ‘Gold Bubble’ and it about to burst. Will this decline foretell the end of the bull Market in Gold.
One of the famous tools used by Analyst to forecast free Markets is Elliott Wave Principle. Based on the study using that tool, it points we are in the fifth wave of a impulse, which means we are in the last leg of the bull Market.
According to the theory, If this is going to be the last leg of the bull Market, then we are going to see a big decline for another few years to come.
Ok, If 1226 is not the top, then what will be the Maximum target for Gold. Yes, based on Elliott Wave principle, we can derive a target of 1400 USD in another 6 months period.
Whenever a commodity is largely discussed in Media, then that would mark the significant turning point of that Market. Gold is being discussed in all world media and it is the only commodity which is in limelight for the past one Year.
Last when Crude oil Prices were peaking, the same story happened. Media covered Crude oil daily and their focus was on Crude oil with analysts predicting 200 to 250 USD as price Target.
Now, the same thing is happening in Gold.
Let us wait and see whether History repeats itself……………..

GLOBAL INDUSTRY DOWN TURN A BOON TO THE CHINESE AUTO INDUSTRIES!!!!!!!!!

GLOBAL INDUSTRY DOWN TURN A BOON TO THE CHINESE AUTO INDUSTRIES!!!!!!!!!

The global industry down turn is a double bonanza for the Chinese leading automobile industries. The fast growing Chinese industries are chasing western brands to utilize the steep global industrial down turn.
Beijing  Automotive Industry Holding(BASIC) is one of the largest auto maker in China.  Recently Beijing automotive industry holding acquired Saab unit a part of General Motors  as a part of developing its own cars. More over it will by the intellectual property for 9-5 and 9-3  sedans and other equipments for a huge  unspecified sum.

This deal will help in the new saap production , but the Saap people clearly informed that the deal will not affect the sale of Saab to others.

The Dutch sports and ;luxury car maker SKYPER is also holding talks with general motors for Saab. Not only SKYPER and BASIC  there are so many other automobile manufactures like GEELY automobile groups are running behind the western car manufactures to harvest the benefits of Global industry down turn.

Most of the Chinese Auto mobile industries are running behind VOLKSWAGEN, TOYOTA MOTORS for tie ups .

Acquiring some assets of GM by BASIC  us a boon to the Chinese  company. Though it is a fifth largest automobile maker in china,
It still does not have its own brand car. Hence, even though the Saab platform is old still it  can use it for manufacture its own cars in future. More over it will get support from Saab as it will use the acquired technology in production of its own cars.