Business

We like Iceland, we’ve never been there, but that doesn’t matter. Besides the outstanding natural beauty, Iceland, unlike the US, UK and practically everywhere else, holds bankers accountable. Last time we checked, 29 had been jailed. As we discussed, it also holds its leaders accountable (partially – see below) when they are complicit in exonerating convicted child rapists. Such an event brought down Iceland’s government in September.

Pole dancing instructor Dee Heath built a successful fitness business in western Sydney teaching “stripper fitness” classes that seem to be in vogue among millennial women.

But recently, Heath has discovered a new passion: Investing in digital currencies.

Heath has spent $5,800 on Bitcoin since July and has more than tripled her investment.

"Look, I love pole dancing but lately my passion has definitely been Bitcoin," she told SBS News.

Just over two months ago, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he considered bitcoin to be a "fraud" that "will not end well," and would fire any JPM trader trading it. The very next day, one of JPM's most respected analysts, quant wizard Marko Kolanovic wrote a lengthy report to substantiate his boss' anger and skepticism, concluding that cryptocurrencies are most likely pyramid schemes and "that the future for cryptocurrencies will likely not be bright."

Authored by Saxo Bank's Head of Macro Strategy, Dembik Christopher, via TradingFloor.com,

• We expect softer-than-consensus 2018 growth
• Lowflation structural, not transitory
• Housing bubbles remain a concern (Bitcoin not so much)

The year 2018 starts with four main questions:

1. Is economic growth on a solid footing?
2. Will inflation ever come back?
3. Should we fear higher bond yields?
4. What could go wrong?

Is economic growth on a solid footing?

After the Party Congress finished in October and China’s centrally planned markets were released (somewhat) from the vice-like grip which had prevailed during the proceedings, we noted the comment from Huachuang Securities that China’s bond holders may be about to get hit by “daggers falling from the sky”, referring to deleveraging. They were right, to some extent, as first the government bonds, then corporate bonds sold off during November.