We were again disappointed. Last week, investors did not hear what they were hoping for from Mario Draghi, the ECB chief, that is, when, how and at what rate the central bank will gradually put an end to its policy of quantitative easing. “Come back in October, and then you will find out”, was Draghi´s message to a gathering of reporters and to millions of investors and traders around the world who were glued to their screens.

Although in this case the old maxim “better late than

The euro has been strong recently. The EUR/USD rate shot up to a two-year high, to a level of 1.21. But not only the euro has been “strong” against the dollar. Better said, the recent euro strength can for the most part be explained by recent dollar weakness. The gold price in dollars went up as a result, even exceeding $1300 per troy ounce, but gold prices for investors in the Eurozone have remained mostly flat. Where is the EURUSD heading next?

Friday, August 24, 2017: the annual gathering of central bankers and policy makers in Jackson Hole has attracted extensive press coverage. Janet Yellen – the current Chair of the Federal Reserve – gave a speech. Not in Washington or New York, but in the quiet little town of Jackson, Wyoming. Janet Yellen was not the only one to give a speech. In fact, almost any important person in the world of central bankers joined this annual symposium organized by the Kansas Fed. Even ECB Chair Mario Draghi gave a talk (which was surprising, given Draghi’s absence from earlier editions of the symposium). The history behind the Jackson Hole symposium is interesting in itself, but the themes that were discussed might be even more interesting. Unfortunately, the formal speeches were boring,