Will the European Central Bank (ECB) raise interest rates – currently at zero percent – earlier than the market until recently was anticipating? A recent report led markets to speculate about an earlier rate hike. Is such speculation well-founded or do markets exaggerate once again?... »

Let us for a moment pretend that we have a crystal ball. I have made a list of ten predictions which I seriously consider for this new year. Some predictions are somewhat more daring than others, but every one of the scenarios have, according to my judgment, decent odds to actually become reality in 2018. I cannot give guarantees, of course, but I can only assure you that I put my money where my mouth is. In other words, I follow Nassim Taleb’s principle of “skin in the game.”

The holidays are over. We just had Christmas, quickly followed by New Year’s Eve. A good moment to reassess the year. For me personally, moreover, a useful moment for self-reflection. How much of the things we have written over the course of last year has turned out to be true? Can we, perhaps, shed light on some of the important topics again? In any case, something that can be observed from this top 10 of 2017, is the fact that cryptocurrencies have been the eye catcher of 2017. Various articles that made it to the list are, therefore, about Bitcoin, which had a rather remarkable year. The most important of all cryptocurrencies rose from roughly $1,000 to more than $15,000 dollar, which equals a return of 1500%+. We also briefly revisit Trump’s presidency, the Fed and the yield