Philippe Herlin

Some pro-bitcoin people claim that crypto will downgrade and absorb gold to become the sole store of value in the future. How can we seriously envisage that gold, recognized, hoarded since the earliest civilizations, could one day be worth nothing? Wouldn't the two assets instead complement each...

The year 2025 is likely to be the year of crisis: the United States must refinance $9 trillion in debt — a quarter of its total outstanding — while financing an annual budget deficit of $1.9 trillion. A veritable debt wall. And then there's Japan, France, and so on. Will there be sufficient deman...

Yet another kidnapping attempt in Paris targeting a person connected to the cryptocurrency world. All valuable assets are in the crosshairs of organized crime, especially easily transportable real assets. The risk of aggression is increasing, and everyone needs to think about their security.

While Spain, Portugal and Italy are pulling out of their massive public deficits — Italy's public deficit has been cut from 8% of GDP in 2022 to 3.4% in 2024 — France continues to sink and is now Europe's sick man.

The idea of companies investing part of their cash in bitcoins is becoming more and more widespread, even if few actually take the plunge. Surprisingly, however, gold, which is far more widely recognized and accepted, does not enjoy comparable publicity. Why is this?

While the price of gold is breaking records and has just passed the symbolic threshold of $3,000 an ounce, bitcoin is struggling and looking for its second wind, rarely has such a marked divergence been observed. Since December 2024, bitcoin has lost 30% of its value against gold. How can such a...

There is an argument against buying gold that really ticks me off (and the same goes for bitcoin): it offers no return, no interest and no dividend, unlike conventional investments (stocks, bonds, life insurance, bank savings accounts, rental property). It would be a second-rate asset, imperfect...

Traditional portfolios, divided between equities and bonds, are less resilient to economic shocks than they used to be, as the two assets increasingly react in tandem, reducing their diversification and resilience. Another asset must therefore be included: physical gold.

A very interesting review by Éric Dor, chief economist at IESEG, summarising the exposure of French and European banks to France's debt. French banks are naturally in first place, with very high levels of exposure.

France, Italy, Japan and the United States all have high budget deficits of comparable magnitude, accompanied by significant public debt in excess of 100% of GDP. However, taking a step back and integrating other macroeconomic financial data, the levels of risk differ greatly, to the detriment of...

The bad news is piling up for France, prompting some to take concrete decisions, such as transferring their capital abroad.

The price of gold continues to break records, with the symbolic threshold of $2,500 now exceeded. In addition to persistent inflation, the powerful buying drive by countries in the Middle and Far East will continue to push gold prices higher. No, it's not too late to buy.

We know why gold is a good investment - we often talk about it here. However, to make sure we haven't missed anything, and in the interests of neutrality and completeness, I decided to put the question to X's (formerly Twitter's) artificial intelligence (AI), called Grok, more precisely the “Grok...

France's image in the world is plummeting at a time when its budget deficit appears to be totally out of control, reaching the same level as at the time of the Covid crisis. Remember that half of France's public debt is held by foreign investors. Any significant lack of confidence would result in...

The dissolution of the French National Assembly is totally irrational, but the President Macron has decided to go ahead with it, so we'll just have to live with it. A huge period of uncertainty is opening up, and the markets don't like it (the CAC 40 has wiped out all its gains since the start of...

Saving is necessary and normal, but doesn't saving too much indicate a fear of the future? This seems to be the inclination of Europeans, according to a recent study by the research department of Natixis (Why are consumers in the eurozone so cautious?).

In the economic turmoil, the FGDR's deposit guarantee scheme is an illusion in the face of real risks, emphasizing the importance of diversifying one's financial assets to guard against banking crises.

It's still too early to know whether a second wave of inflation will occur, but gold seems to suspect it...

A gloomy outlook: inflation is set to remain persistently high in Europe. We've been saying this for a long time. A Natixis study supports this view and identifies several factors (which we re-rank in order of importance) driving up prices in the long term.

Inflation takes off at around 4% in Japan, a significant level for a country which, apart from the 2014 surge, has generally recorded inflation rates close to zero, or even negative, since the turn of the century.