Since quite a while ago, I have been anticipating this remarkable moment. The – for me – most important economic warning sign has turned red: the yield curve inverted and, as a consequence, short-term interest rates in the U.S. are now higher than long-term rates. All the while gold prices dropped by twenty dollars, close to a level of $1,290 per troy ounce. Motive? The dollar strengthened to €1.12 and came near a three-week high.... »

I have often said that after a meeting of the ECB’s board or the Fed's interest rate committee (FOMC), one sentence that is barely noticed, turns out to be extremely important. Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Fed, among other things, disagrees with the idea that "we have reached the Fed's inflation target of 2 percent in any convincing way."... »

President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, stunned financial markets last week by announcing a U-turn in the Eurozone’s monetary policy. Instead of a long-awaited rate hike, Mario Draghi announced on the contrary a new monetary stimulus package. The Italian, among other things, pulled an old trick out of the ECB sleeve (the so-called TLTROs), mere months after the European version of quantitative easing was brought to a complete stop.

But it should be very clear to close observers what really is happening: Mario Draghi will step down in October this year and wishes to avoid a renewed recession and/or financial panic at practically all cost during his term. And since the ECB lowered its economic forecast for 2019 from 1.9% GDP growth to a mere 1.1% growth, it seems that