In the Blind Spot (Germany, Finanzagentur, Andrew Bailey)
Business, Finance, Markets etc: German parliament approves giant fund to tackle energy crisis. If the UK bears a “moron premium” consider the degree to which Germany [exposed to the same degree of inflationary and stagnation risk] potentially carries an “obfuscation discount”. If I were an investor I would be more focused on what has not […]
Are the UK Upper Middle Classes Thinking Rationally?
I try to stay away from writing about Brexit as much as possible. People in the UK simply can’t think about the topic dispassionately or without going tribal. My general position on the whole thing is that both sides make good and bad points, but that the bigger issue is a failure to communicate with […]
On the Public Shaming of Liz Truss
A Tweet thread I posted yesterday about Liz Truss went semi-viral, and as can be expected responses have ranged from critical (yet informed) to totally feral. Given its virality, I thought I would explain myself in longer form (since who really has the time to get into an endless tit-for-tat on the world’s least-nuanced social […]
Reflections on (Just Over) 24 Hours With the Gold Industry
I have just had the pleasure of spending about 24 hours with precious market participants attending the annual London Bullion Markets Association gathering which took place in Lisbon this week. I was there as a keynote speaker, embracing the challenging task of speaking on a topic of my choice. In the end, I stuck to […]
The BoE’s Troubles Really Are All About The Leverage
When the Bank of England surprised the market with further open market operations earlier this week, The Blind Spot reached out to Helmholtz, a former sell-side pro with nearly 40 years worth of experience running rates desks at various investment banks. Helmholtz has agreed to give us his thoughts on the condition of pseudonymity, but […]
The Essential Willem Buiter on Whether Central Banks Can Go Bust
As mentioned in Spot Markets Live on Monday, lots of people are talking about this chart tracking Fed remittances to the Treasury. The striking collapse into negative territory since the summer is a function of the Fed finally having to materialise losses on the assets it purchased post-2008 as it unwinds QE. Does it mean […]
What’s Going On With PayPal? (Updated)
*This piece has been updated to clarify that at the time of publication it was unclear if the problems the author was experiencing were unique to her. With the stock prices of both Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank under pressure, many in the financial field are becoming concerned the world could be facing a renewed […]
The Pathway to a “Right to Sell” Housing Intervention
What goes up must come down. But must everything that gets privatised eventually be renationalised? In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher undertook the great privatisation of Britain by selling off everything from British Gas to British Telecom and even British Airways. The move was accompanied by some simply inspired public promotion. Most memorable was the FOMO […]
Crypto Super Yachts Are a Thing
Earlier this summer I was commissioned by Boat International to write a feature about what’s going on in the world of super yachts and crypto. That piece is now up for Boat International subscribers. As I noted on Twitter earlier today the TLDR is: Some people are selling superyachts for crypto, but mostly as a […]
Defcon 1 Financial Contagion Fire-drill
Rumours are swirling about financial contagion, and certain institutions being up against it. I don’t have any insider information. All I can tell you is that I was on a prep call for an LBMA panel I am on later this month with Peter Zoellner, Head of the Banking Department at the Bank for International […]