Business

More and more signs of inflation are showing up.

In the latest ISM reading (a measure of economic activity in the US), this following tidbit showed up:

One of the reason why the torrid dollar rally of the past few weeks appears to have plateaued, at least for the time being, is that just like earlier in the year, doubts have emerged about the viability of the "new and improved" tax plan, which according to the Tax Policy Center would mostly benefit the "Top 1", even as it eventually pushes taxes for the upper middle class progressively higher.

It's deja vu all over again.

In a repeat of yesterday's session, where US equities and the dollar levitated in a one-way trade, Tuesday's muted session - where in addition to closed China and South Korean markets, Germany's Dax is also shut for holiday - has seen early dollar and European equity strength, while the S&P is set for new record highs amid higher E-minis and a VIX that is again lower after 5 consecutive days of declines.

Even as Wall Street appears to have flipped in its view on the dollar, which bottomed hard on the day the PBOC announced its revised foreign policy nearly one month ago when it invited speculators to once again short the Yuan, one analyst, Bloomberg's Mark Cudmore, thinks rumors of the dollar's rebirth and upcoming surge, are greatly exaggerated.

He explains why in his latest Macro View note released overnight, and republished below.

There are many flaws in the bullish argument for the greenback.

Amid a creeping global de-dollarization, Vladimir Putin appears to be the one leading the charge from the precious metal perspective.

As Bloomberg's Yuliya Fedorinova and Olga Tanas report, the Bank of Russia has more than doubled the pace of gold purchases, bringing the share of bullion in its international reserves to the highest of Putin’s 17 years in power, according to World Gold Council data.

Rising at a pace of around 15% per year, Russia's absolute gold horde is at a record high...