You are here

Daily Dispatches

UK to loan back Ghana's looted 'crown jewels'

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Katie Razzall
British Broadcasting Corp. London
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The UK is sending some of Ghana's "crown jewels" back home, 150 years after looting them from the court of the Asante king.

A gold peace pipe is among 32 items returning under long-term loan deals, the BBC can reveal.

The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) is lending 17 pieces and 15 are from the British Museum.

Ghana's chief negotiator said he hoped for "a new sense of cultural co-operation" after generations of anger.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Pam and Russ Martens: Inspector general whitewashes former Fed official's trading

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Pam and Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

To read mainstream media headlines, one would think that the Federal Reserve inspector general's office has exonerated former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan of any legal action for trading like a hedge fund kingpin while he was privy to insider information at the Fed.

Jamie McGeever: Foreign central banks think twice on U.S. Treasuries

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Jamie McGeever
Reuters
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

If foreign investors en masse are gorging on U.S. Treasuries, central banks may be beginning to lose their appetite.

Official U.S. flows data show that overseas private-sector investors -- banks, asset managers, insurance funds, pension funds, retail investors -- are loading up on Treasuries while the official sector's holdings are flat-lining at best.

... Dispatch continues below ...


... ADVERTISEMENT ...

China rigs currency market just as U.S. does

Section: Daily Dispatches

China Moves to Support Yuan as Stock Markets Tumble

From Reuters
Monday, January 22, 2024

China's major state-owned banks moved to support the yuan today, tightening liquidity in the offshore foreign exchange market while actively selling U.S. dollars onshore as equities slid, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The goal was to prevent the yuan from falling too fast as China's A shares plunged, said one of the people, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index posting its biggest one-day drop since April 2022 on Monday, down 2.7%.

Pam and Russ Martens: A Fed whistleblower reveals efforts to silence him

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Pam and Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade
Monday, January 22, 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice needs to immediately appoint an independent special counsel to investigate how long and in how many ways the U.S. central bank (the Federal Reserve) has been functioning as a protection racket for Wall Street mega-banks.

We'll get to the latest revelation about the Fed bullying and intimidating a Fed official in a moment, but first some necessary background. ...

... For the remainder of the commentary:

Chinese yuan challenges U.S. dollar as African trade embraces other currencies

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Jevans Myabiage
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Sunday, January 21, 2024

When you land at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, one of the billboards welcoming you to the Zambian capital advertises the services of the Bank of China.

There are not many countries in Africa where the Chinese government-owned financial institution offers fully fledged banking services in yuan, the Chinese currency.

New Jersey governor pocket-vetoes unanimously passed bill to end sales tax on gold and silver

Section: Daily Dispatches

By JP Cortez
Money Metals News Service, Eagle, Idaho
Thursday, January 18, 2024

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has unilaterally killed a bill that would have exempted the sales tax on purchases of gold and silver.

Bill A5294 / S1825 had passed out of both committees and both chambers of the New Jersey legislature without a single "no" vote. This popular bill had more than a dozen co-sponsors and had unanimous approval in each legislative chamber. Despite this Gov. Murphy chose not to enact the bill into law through the use of a pocket veto.

Defying Milei's austerity, an Argentina province plans its own currency

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Patrick Gillespie and Manuela Tobias
Bloomberg News
via BNN Bloomberg, Toronto
Friday, January 19, 2024

When President Javier Milei defended the adoption of the dollar through a "free competition of currencies" in Argentina, few foresaw a brand-new legal tender coming out of the middle of the country. 

The legislature of La Rioja, a small, landlocked province known for its olives, approved the creation of a new quasi-currency this week, defying Milei's austerity push to end the nation's chronic fiscal deficit. 

Trump says he'd 'never allow' central bank digital currency

Section: Daily Dispatches

From Bloomberg News
via MSN, Redmond, Washington
Thursday, January 18, 2024

Former President Donald Trump came out against the idea of a central bank-issued digital dollar, saying he wanted to""protect Americans from government tyranny.”

"As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency," Trump said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire Wednesday night. "Such a currency would give a federal government -- our federal government -- absolute control over your money. They could take your money and you wouldn’t even know it's gone." ...

Dollar dominance is triggering intervention fears across markets

Section: Daily Dispatches

As if "dollar dominance" isn't a matter of intervention as well -- by the United States.

* * *

By Ruth Carson and Hooyeon Kim
Bloomberg News
Thursday, January 18, 2024

Investors are dusting off intervention playbooks once again as a resurgent dollar raises the specter of fresh efforts from officials to protect their currencies.

Taiwan's central bank issued a rare statement this week to calm investors after global funds slashed their holdings of the island's stocks and the local currency swooned. 

Pages