Philippe Herlin

Last Sunday, the European Central Bank announced its verdict on the stress tests it has been conducting for several months and, this time around, quite a few banks have failed them.

The United States’ public debt represents a large volume but, however, its absorption capacity is not infinite. And neither is its credibility. Even though the Fed is backing the whole thing and stands ready to print anything to meet payments, at one point defiance will be on the rise. We may not...

An important agreement was signed on Saturday, October 11, between the large global banks “under pressure from regulators” and it relates to derivatives and, more specifically, the CDSs, or credit default swaps.

Central banks have kept silent about this but it’s hard to believe that manipulating the foreign exchange market isn’t part of their policies; it’s probably also part of their new strategy.

Tensions are rising between Germany and the European Central Bank and, this time, concerns are raised openly through an intervention by Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble before the German parliament, the Bundestag. Angela Merkel’s strong man has been in charge of this key ministry sinc...

Average growth in Europe, Japan and the United States keeps slowing down when compared with previous decades: It is near zero in Europe and Japan, and 2% in the U.S.

Cash reserves of corporations located in Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EMEA zone) are reaching record highs, totalling 936 billion euros. This is 40% more than in 2007, just before the crisis, and this is where the problem lies: businesses are making money, but they don’t know what to do wi...

Mario Draghi spoke, last Thursday, and everyone must have thought his announcements were important... because right after his speech, stock markets went up and the euro fell against the dollar! What caused this abrupt temperature rise in the markets?

On Monday, France borrowed at a negative rate, which means investors are losing money... they’re paying to deposit their money! Even though this is for short-term loans (3, 6 and 12 months, for a total of 8.2 billion euros) at rates slightly below zero (-0.002% to -0.004%), this hadn’t occurred s...

The S&P 500 just passed the 2,000-point psychological threshold, an absolute record for that index, created in 1950 and comprising the 500 largest companies traded on the U.S. stock market

In Pebble Beach, California, during The Quails “Concours d’Élégance”, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO was sold at auction by Bonhams for $38 million, which constitutes an all-time record for a collector’s automobile. What to think of this exorbitant amount?

The United States has just announced a 4% (annualised) growth for the second quarter, following a disastrous first quarter showing (finally revised, for the third time, at -2.1% instead of -2.9%). Though this sounds like good news, we should wait for the official revision of this 4% number that l...

One of the main arguments used by your banker to dissuade you from buying gold is that “it’s not generating anything”, either interest or dividends. It has been true, in a way, for some time. But, now that interest rates are at their lowest and that savings accounts and life insurance policies pr...

Beyond Deutsche Bank, we must understand that the large banks of the world are holding inordinate amounts of derivatives, beside which their own funds are ridiculously low. And this constitutes an endemic risk that is largely underestimated by the shareholders, as well as the depositors.

With virtually empty gold vaults, the central banks and bullion banks are now becoming desperate.

The American bank Citigroup has just been condemned by the Department of Justice to pay a fine of $7billion for its role in the subprime crisis.

Banks have not really taken preventive measures against sudden changes in their environment, and that their gross underestimation of risk puts them in a fragile position, should anything unexpected happen

In January of 2014, economists were predicting a 2.6% growth, and we get a result of -2.9%. This catastrophic number has been totally ignored by the markets and talked down by the Fed, of course, but this will make the return to reality that much more painful.

This anemic growth, this ever-delayed recovery and this QE tapering should normally be worrisome for the stock market, but things are staying put for now. How is that?

We often talk in these pages about the difficult situation facing Europe’s southern countries, but the financial crisis is also affecting countries that are considered sound and that have a good reputation. This is the case with Austria, facing difficulties with its banking sector.