World stocks hit new record highs on Tuesday amid a continuation of Monday's risk-on theme which unleashed a dramatic relief rally on easing North Korea tensions and signs that Hurricane Irma caused less damage than feared (which according to Keynesians should be GDP negative). The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.2%, hitting the highest on record with a fifth consecutive advance.
From Garfield Reynolds, Bloomberg FX, bonds and commodities macro commentator
Trading a Market That’s Both Beautiful and Damned
While the broader market for Swiss stocks has risen modestly this year, one 'entity' has outperformed its peers by such a staggering margin, it has left bamboozled market experts struggling for an explanation.
And that company is…the Swiss National Bank.
The price of a share in Swiss National Bank in August rose above 3,000 francs ($3,143) for the first time, more than double the level of a year ago, and up 50% since mid-July, as the Financial Times noted in a story about its performance.
British people have suddenly stopped buying cars and as BI's Jim Edwards notes, it's not clear why.
As the following chart from Barclays shows, both new- and used-car sales have collapsed...
While the slump in consumer confidence remains a major factor...
But as Edwards notes, a number of other factors are colliding simultaneously to hurt UK car sales:
While ECB President Mario Draghi faces his own German-bond-market constraints in his hubristic bond-buying-bonanza, cornering him to taper sooner than later; the Bank of Japan appears to have thrown every textbook out of the window and cranked their plunge-protection to '11', as Bloomberg reports, The Bank of Japan now holds 75% of the nation's ETFs.