Alasdair Macleod

Contributor since: 23 Jul 2012

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• Bonds and Banks

  Published 19 June 2015 | viewed 0 times

  This year has seen some big losses develop in the bond markets, though prices have stabilised in recent days. The chart above is of the…

• The Fallacies of GDP

  Published 12 June 2015 | viewed 0 times

  The common error of confusing growth with progress goes largely unnoticed, though it permeates all macroeconomic analysis. There is no better example of this mistake…

• China's Five Year Plan and The End of an Era

  Published 05 June 2015 | viewed 0 times

  China is in the late stages of constructing its thirteenth five-year plan, a process that commenced over a year ago and will result in a…

• Dollar Strength

  Published 29 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Markets this week have been all about renewed dollar strength, with precious metals side-lined. The only notable move was when gold lost $20 and silver…

• Euro-sclerosis

  Published 28 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  There appears to be little or nothing in the monetarists' handbook to enable them to assess the risk of a loss of confidence in the…

• Precious Metals Rally Consolidates

  Published 22 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Gold and silver rallied strongly last Friday and into Monday's overnight trading (UK time) before spending the rest of the week drifting lower from initial…

• Inaccurate Statistics and The Threat to Bonds

  Published 22 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Statistics have become very misleading: in particular we are being badly misled into believing that the US is teetering on the edge of price deflation,…

• Dollar Weakens

  Published 15 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  The US dollar continued to lose ground this week, contributing to a firmer trend for precious metals. Gold rose over $40 to $1223, and silver…

• The Trouble with Cash

  Published 14 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  When interest rates are zero and it costs a bank to look after your money it becomes an unattractive asset. Banks in some jurisdictions (such…

• Controlling Copper and Silver Prices

  Published 07 May 2015 | viewed 0 times

  There is an unwarranted assumption that market prices are always right, and represent "fair value". In the case of commodities, particularly metals, this is not…

• Gold, the SDR and BRICS

  Published 23 April 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Last Monday there was a meeting in Washington hosted by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) to discuss the future relationship, if any,…

• Confusion over US Unemployment

  Published 10 April 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Unemployment is the one statistic that one would have thought is easy to define: just total up the number of people on unemployment benefit and…

• Strong Dollar Nips PMs Rally in The Bud

  Published 10 April 2015 | viewed 0 times

  This week started well for gold and silver, but it turned out that the peak for both was on Easter Monday, since when prices have…

• FOMC Minutes Turned The Tide

  Published 27 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Following the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes last week, gold and silver have come alive, the gold price rising from a…

• Central Banks Paralysed

  Published 27 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Though the Fed would deny it, it is clear from the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that a rise in…

• FOMC is Boxed In

  Published 20 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement released on Wednesday was notable for deferring interest rate rises to some unspecified time in the future. This…

• The New Order Emerges

  Published 20 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  China and Russia have taken the lead in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), seen as a rival organisation to the World Bank and…

• An Austrian Take On Inflation

  Published 13 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  We know that today's macroeconomists are very confused about inflation, if only because despite all experience they think they can print money and increase bank…

• Currency Chaos

  Published 13 March 2015 | viewed 0 times

  This week has been all about currencies, with a weak euro grabbing the headlines. At one point yesterday morning, the euro was 3% down from…

• Strong US Dollar Sets Market Tone

  Published 17 February 2015 | viewed 0 times

  This week the US dollar moved strongly upwards against the other major currencies, at the same time weakening gold and silver along with most industrial…