Financial crisis

Currency In Circulation vs Gold & Total Credit Market Debt vs Gold. Charts by Nick Laird.

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.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) just published a statistical study on the amount of derivatives worldwide at the end of 2013, and they reach the astronomical amount of $710 Trillions ($710,000,000,000,000).

There always is this media noise, constantly repeating itself, about optimistic growth predictions, but only real results should count, and they are not good at all.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Germany’s central bank would accept a move by the ECB in June if the outlook on inflation warrants it. The Buba now is siding with the general assumption that we have to fight deflation risks by turning on the printing press.

The Fed is trying to control the price of gold below $1,300 and the price of silver below $20. Every time the Fed speaks flash crashes in gold and silver happen, which has probably kept the dollar from falling more as a consequence.

So what’s new in the States? The recovery... which needs more and more time to become a reality. Judge by yourself : Growth in the first quarter plummeted to a meager 0.1%. The explanation from official sources? Snow...

These last few days, the media would have us believe that Greece is doing better, that the country is on its way back up, and two irrefutable proofs are brought in for that demonstration : Greece is now experiencing a primary budgetary surplus, and it has regained access to financial markets. Let...

By constantly playing with words and abusing its people, the french government may face some violent consequences. The fall may be more brutal. France is the pivot country between Europe’s south and north, and a crisis surrounding the trust on its debt would spread to all of the Eurozone...

IMF says the number of non-performing loans on the european banks’ balance sheets has doubled since 2009, going from 400 to 800 billion euros.