Ben Davies: Financial Repression and Technocratic Governments
When Ben Davies speaks on gold, silver and other metals, listen carefully. From the Metall Woche.
Today we publish a highly recommended Interview with Ben Davies, Fundmanager and CEO of Hinde Capital in London. This interview really chronicles actual history. Ben Davies shares his views with us about the actual events in the financial system in a very impressive way and why physical gold is a must have in everybodys portfolio. You will not only listen to the views and opinions as a fundsmanager. Ben is kind enough to let us be part of his personal and private settings as well. For us at Metallwoche this makes this podcast unique.
Full must listen to interview here.
Remember volatility?
The market is becoming more boring by the day, especially on tripple witching days. Let’s review some of those fun trading sessions. Live video from the Flash Crash day. Remember what vol used to be?
Slamming the brakes on HFT?
Advanced Trading on the HFT debate.
It never was supposed to be this fast and furious.
When the first Wall Street traders hooked up their own personal computers (most likely IBM PCs or early IBM clones from Compaq), the machines were going to make things faster and easier — more efficient, in other words. But soon, affordable networking cards attached the PCs to one another and then to the capital markets.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wall Street went digital, and electronic trading exploded. Add in high-speed processors, low-latency networks, truly electronic trading platforms and dark pools, and the high-frequency future of trading had arrived.
But executing near the speed of light can be dangerous. Along with fast trades often have come loose control and severe crashes.
The majority of today’s trades are executed electronically using algorithms; some estimates say algorithmic trading comprises as much as 74 percent of all stock trades in the United States — and at faster speeds than once were imaginable. In the time it takes you to say “high-frequency trading,” millions of shares in dozens of markets across the globe have changed hands. But a hyperefficient mechanism that is free of human interference, and therefore error, the current market is not. (Full article here). Chart Nanex.
Government Wrong on Jobs and Wages Again
Biderman on those jobs.
The global media continues to unblinkingly report US government statistics that jobs and wages are in recovery. However, maybe reality is beginning to sink in. The Wall Street Journal reporter Jon Hilsenrath, the unofficial Federal Reserve mouthpiece, this past Monday wondered in print: “Something about the US economy is not adding up….How can an economy that is growing so slowly produce such big declines in unemployment.” (full article here.)
Video below.
Goldman’s Alpha War
As one of the hottest topics around on the financial blogosphere seems to be Smith’s departure from Goldman Sachs, why not read a good article on Goldman’s presented in Vanity Fair last year. Whatever people say about Goldman Sachs, they sure have and are doing some things right. With tripple witching expiry today, and the usual no moves trend extended on those days, why not read a good historic wrap up of Goldman Sachs, still the N0 1.
As 1993 was drawing to a close, Steve Friedman had had just about enough. He had joined Goldman Sachs in 1966, ran its world-class M&A group for years, served as its co-chairman with Robert Rubin between 1990 and 1992, and then headed the firm alone after Rubin left to be part of the Clinton administration. Especially this last job—being the sole senior partner at Goldman Sachs—had taken its toll on him. Whereas once he could divide up international travel and flag-waving with Rubin, now, at 55, he was on his own. There were questions about both his physical and mental health. People would often come up and tell him he didn’t look so well. He knew he felt tired, but began to think there was something more to his chronic fatigue. Occasionally, when he traveled, he would experience heart arrhythmia, when his heartbeat would speed up dramatically and uncontrollably. This made him nervous about flying—something that others noticed. (Full article here.)
News That Matters
Ft.com
Wall Street’s concern over the latest public outcry at Goldman Sachs was underscored when the head of one of its biggest rivals warned his senior staff not to exploit the “alleged issues” surrounding the investment bank. In response to a stinging article on Goldman Sachs’s business practices written by a departing derivatives salesman at the bank, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, emailed his colleagues on the bank’s operating committee. “Today’s New York Times op-ed by a Goldman Sachs executive is generating a lot of discussion around the street. I want to be clear that I don’t want anyone here to seek advantage from a competitor’s alleged issues or hearsay – ever,” he wrote. “It’s not the way we do business … We respect our competitors, and our focus should be on doing the best we can to continually strengthen our own standards.” http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e1aa813a-6eb1-11e1-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1pA65f3WX
Wsj.com
Asian stock markets were mixed in choppy trading Friday, as many investors took to the sidelines ahead of the weekend, mulling conflicting implications of stronger U.S. economic data and slowing growth signals from China. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% and South Korea’s Kospi Composite gave up 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was off 0.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4%, while India’s Sensex tacked on 0.4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down two points in screen trade. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304459804577284401909180604.html?mod=WSJASIA_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews
Adverse factors will weigh on economic activity in the euro zone in the first half of this year, but real gross-domestic-product growth is expected to pick up modestly in the second half, the European Central Bank said Thursday. GDP growth should improve further next year, assuming the financial crisis doesn’t escalate again, the ECB said. “Overall, the recovery is expected to be slow,” ECB staff projected in the central bank’s monthly bulletin.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577282890732437240.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews
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