In today’s recap, Marcello talks about how the weakening position of the dollar facebing the other world currencies might lead to an eventual collapse of it and an hyperinflation in the US; Binance is struggling to find a bank to manage its funds after the collapse of SVB; Tesla is again delivering a record amount of vehicles.
U.S. dollar will weaken vs most major currencies in 2023 as the interest rate gap w/its peers stops widening, putting the currency on the defensive after a multi-year run, say a number of currency experts. Despite starting 2023 on a weak footing, the dollar bounced back in Feb, gaining nearly 3% for the month, on expectations the Fed would take interest rates higher than previously thought. The failure of 2 regional U.S. banks in March, forced the Fed to temper those expectations, pushing the dollar to retreat.
A number of countries kept adding gold to their reserves in February, marking the strongest start to the year since at least 2010. Global gold reserves increased by 52 tonnes in Feb., rising for the 11th month in a row. In Jan., central banks bought 74 tonnes of gold. And that follows record levels of last year, with a total of 1,136 tonnes purchased. So far in 2023, central banks’ net purchases stand at 125 tonnes. the strongest start to a year back to at least 2010, when central banks became net buyers on an annual basis.
Finland becomes a member of NATO on Tuesday, completing a historic security policy shift brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while neighboring Sweden’s application is kept waiting by both Hungary & Turkey. Turkey claims the Swedes harbor members of what the Turks consider terrorist groups & Hungary, cites grievances over Swedish criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s democratic record. Finland becomes the 31st member of the Western military alliance.
Live births in Italy dropped to a new low below 400K in 2022, as the population continued to shrink. Italy’s dearth of babies is considered a national emergency. Last year Italy recorded over 12 deaths for every 7 births & the resident population fell by 179K to 58.85M Italy’s overall population has been falling steadily since 2014, with a cumulative loss since then of more than 1.36M people. Italy could lose almost a 1/5 of its residents, with the population set to decline, under a baseline scenario, to 54.2M in 2050 & 47.7M in 2070.
Donald Trump, former president & front-runner for 2024 Republican nomination, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, after an investigation into hush money paid to a porn star. While falsifying business records in NY on its own is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than 1 yr in prison, it is elevated to a felony punishable by up to 4 yrs in prison, when done to conceal another crime. Many legal experts assert the case remains weak & will fail to lead to an actual trial next year.
1000’s of farmers protested across Romania on Friday over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic & border checkpoints with tractors & trucks urging the European Commission to intervene. Anger is rising among farmers in Central & Eastern Europe, over a flood of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, exempt from customs fees until June 2024, which have hurt prices & sales of local producers.
71 Chinese military aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday; U.S. employers maintained a strong pace of hiring in March, with nonfarm payrolls increasing 236K for the month; Finland’s outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced she is stepping down as leader of the Social Democratic party; U.S. manufacturing activity slumped in March to the lowest level in nearly 3 years
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