Archives for Macro - Page 8
S & P 500 futures contracts were introduced by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(“CME”) in 1982. The contract is based upon the 500 companies that comprise the S&P 500. The contract unit is USD250 times the value of the S&P 500. Thus 250 x 2091 (last traded S&P 500 value) is…
This is an accompanying post to last week’s article on declining commodity demand. All manner of transport statistics are in decline. I shall here focus only on the Baltic Dry Index (“BDI”), which I have posted about previously. In 2014 I argued that the BDI is not necessarily a leading…
Actions by various countries and central banks have led to an apparent disconnect between markets and the actual underlying economy. Most would agree that the global economy is in poor shape and that monetary measures (QE, ZIRP, NIRP and so on) have mainly impacted risk. Too much “free” money chasing…
There is a widely held concept that any measure of the human impact on Earth should include all the resources people consume and all the waste they generate. The objective is to understand the supply/demand balance. At present it is generally considered that we are in deficit. That is, the…
These are not the top five as three from August are also very popular this month. Australian LNG Projects are in Serious Trouble What a disaster. Over $200 billion spend with little likelihood of a return on capital Specialty Metals & Minerals – Graphite The first in what will be…
This 2010 IMF article remains pertinent today. Countries are financially interconnected through sovereign assets and liabilities, financial institutions and corporations. This of course leads to a very complicated risk profile where failure in one institution, such as Lehman Brothers in 2008, can have multiple unforeseen consequences. This article is an…