Just over a year ago, we reported that in what was set to be a pilot experiment in "universal basic income", Finland would become the first nation to hand out "helicopter money" in the form of cash directly to a select group of citizens.
With 2016 still fresh in most investors' minds, and questions about 2017 pressing, here is a summary, courtesy of Goldman's Allison Nathan, of where Goldman believes we closed out 2016, what is in store in the coming year, and ultimately, "what keeps Goldman up at night" about 2017.
2016, and a peek at 2017
Submitted by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
“There is no other endeavor in which men and women of enormous intellectual power have shown total disregard for higher-order reasoning than monetary policy.
-David Collum
American Notes
Last week we were surprised to learn that demand for hotel rooms at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, where the world's billionaires, CEOs, politicians, celebrities and oligarchs mingle every year (while regaled by their public relations teams known as the "media", for whom getting an invite to the DJ event du jour is more important than rocking the boat by asking unpleasant questions) was so great, not only are hotel rooms running out, but local employees may be put up in shipping containers in car parks to free up much needed accommodations.
European stocks were panic-bid at the open overnight as hungover New Year's Eve revelers (absent Brits and Swiss who were still on holiday) bought Italian banks, German utilities, and Spanish industrials following the better than expected manufacturing PMIs across most nations. EuroStoxx 50 gained 0.6% - thanks to a spike near the open - for the best open to a year since 2013.
The action was all at the open following a knee-jerk lower in EURUSD (snapping below 1.0500)...