Tag: XXVII70

Weekly Market Review Global equities were basically flat last week and this week.  As they have for years, the mainstream media simplify complex economic factors by attributing their ups and downs to ongoing Brexit and Trade War dramas.  Oil prices remain basically unchanged. Gold is losing some shine among money managers, who dropped their speculative...

IMF Hedges Bets  Finally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is catching up with the Trends Journal’s global economic trend forecasts. Last week, the IMF slashed global growth estimates to 3 percent, down from 3.8 percent in 2017, the slowest rate seen since the Panic of ‘08.  The IMF predicts the “Big Four” global economies –...

Fed Up with The Fed To boost the slowing U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve began buying $60 billion Treasury bills each month for at least six months.  The next day, the New York Federal Bank flooded the markets with temporary liquidity to the tune of $104 billion. The initiative was rolled out in two parts:...

Last Monday, 14 October, violence erupted in Spain’s Northeast province of Catalonia following the sentencing of pro-independence leaders. Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan politicians to nine-to-13 years in prison. The longest jail term was given to Oriol Junqueras, former vice president of the region and the most prominent politician on trial, who had been...

Now in its 20th week, hundreds of thousands of protesters joined a planned march on Sunday, 20 October, despite the ban imposed by police.  Many protesters ignored the government edict against masks that hide facial identity from police monitoring. While the march started out peacefully, within two hours it erupted into violence, as some protesters...

Last Thursday, in response to Lebanese government plans to impose new taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and some social media platforms and apps, protesters gathered near the parliament building in Beirut. Riot police were dispatched to confront them, and the bodyguard of a Lebanese official opened fire at protesters.  Demonstrations spread outside of the capital city...

Anger over President Alpha Conde’s referendum to extend his time in office led to thousands of protesters taking to the streets in the African country.   At least nine people were killed and more than 70 wounded.  According to one doctor treating the wounded, some of the protesters were shot at close range.

Once again, as with the nature of all these protests, “It’s the economy, stupid,” government corruption, and anti-elite anger.  Last weekend, Santiago, the capital city, saw looting and riots by citizens angry over increased subway fares, one of a number of proposed rate hikes in public service operations, including a 10 percent hike in electricity...

Weeks of clashes between police and protesters escalated last Friday in the capital of Port-au-Prince, as thousands took to the streets.   The new uprising came just hours after a reporter from a Haitian radio station, Nehemie Joseph, who had been actively covering previous anti-government demonstrations, was found dead in his car from multiple bullet...

In a major upset, voters in Tunisia elected a law professor who was barely known across the country and did little campaigning. Kais Saied soundly defeated the incumbent, Nabil Karoui, a wealthy media mogul.  According to the head of the Columbia Global Centers in Tunis, an education center in Tunisia, “Saied is the real anti-system...