Salient to Investors: Nouriel Roubini writes: Gold spikes in times of serious economic, financial and geopolitical risks, but that does not make it such a safe investment – cf sharp falls in gold prices during crisis periods of 2008 and 2009. Gold performs best in times of high inflationary risks
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Shane Oliver at AMP Capital Investors said he was not worried until this week because things are much different in China than expected and potentially pose risks for global growth. Oliver said we relied on the Fed and China so much over the last few years that
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Niall Ferguson at Harvard said: The West is in decline cause by political and economic stagnation and the US and Europe institutions that are degenerating include democracy, regulation, the rule of law and justice, and civil society. Non-Western countries are improving their economic and political institutions and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Cap Gemini and Royal Bank of Canada said in their millionaire report for 2012: North America reclaimed the most millionaires top spot. 3.73 million North Americans had at least $1 million in investable assets versus 3.68 million in Asia-Pacific. The combined wealth of the world’s millionaires rose 10 percent to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Johan P. Mackenbach at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam writes: Even in high-income countries and Western Europe’s highly developed welfare states, people lower on the socioeconomic ladder have shorter and less healthy lives than those on higher rungs. Life expectancy at birth often varies by 5-10
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: China does infrastructure better than anyone in the world – trains, roads, airports, subways built at amazing speed, on a grand scale and with great foresight. The HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company, Ltd, will help finance a Nicaraguan canal at a total cost
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jim O’Neill said: The US is returning to normality so expect 10-yr T-yields to rise toward 4 percent in the next couple of years as the 30-year bull market in bonds comes to an end. There will be quite ugly days. The global economy is in the early stages of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: David Stockman says: We are in serial bubbles. Greenspan and Bernanke have inflated bubbles for years by keeping interest rates low. A system of bubble finance is geared towards massive borrowing and speculation on leverage, everyone will do it – a gambler’s dream. Financial markets are full
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Yields on US Treasuries, German bunds and Japanese government bonds are 1 standard deviation above their historical norm. Yields on Treasuries and bunds are more than 40 basis points below what would be 2 standard deviations from their means, and Japanese bonds are 5 basis points away.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: OECD predicts faster global economic growth, led by the US and Japan: growth in member countries will accelerate to 2.3 percent in 2014 from 1.2 percent in 2013, China, will grow 8.4 percent in 2014 after growth of 7.8 percent in 2013. Neil Mackinnon at VTB Capital
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