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24 March 2021
Eoin's personal portfolio: stock market index short closed
Eoin Treacy's view
One of the most commonly asked questions by subscribers is how to find details of my open traders. To make it easier I will simply repost the latest summary daily until there is a change.
Video commentary for March 23rd 2021
Eoin Treacy's view
A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area.
Some of the topics discussed include: oil unwinds its overbought condition, bond yields contract. that boosts tech but weighs on reflation trades. China tech at trend mean, no contagion from Turkey in emerging markets, mean reversion is the order of the day.
A Taiwan Crisis May End the American Empire
This article by Niall Ferguson may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Kissinger’s meetings with Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier, were perhaps the most momentous of his career. As a fox, the U.S. national security adviser had multiple objectives. The principal goal was to secure a public Chinese invitation for his boss, Nixon, to visit Beijing the following year.
But Kissinger was also seeking Chinese help in getting America out of Vietnam, as well as hoping to exploit the Sino-Soviet split in a way that would put pressure on the Soviet Union, America’s principal Cold War adversary, to slow down the nuclear arms race. In his opening remarks, Kissinger listed no fewer than six issues for discussion, including the raging conflict in South Asia that would culminate in the independence of Bangladesh.
Zhou’s response was that of a hedgehog. He had just one issue: Taiwan. “If this crucial question is not solved,” he told Kissinger at the outset, “then the whole question [of U.S.-China relations] will be difficult to resolve.”
To an extent that is striking to the modern-day reader of the transcripts of this and the subsequent meetings, Zhou’s principal goal was to persuade Kissinger to agree to “recognize the PRC as the sole legitimate government in China” and “Taiwan Province” as “an inalienable part of Chinese territory which must be restored to the motherland,” from which the U.S. must “withdraw all its armed forces and dismantle all its military installations.” (Since the Communists’ triumph in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the island of Taiwan had been the last outpost of the nationalist Kuomintang. And since the Korean War, the U.S. had defended its autonomy.)
Eoin Treacy's view
China is deadly serious about taking back control of Taiwan. Perhaps more importantly it is a personal mission for Xi Jinping to achieve that goal because it will cement his name in the annals of China’s history.
New soba noodle-making robot at Japan train station eatery can cook 150 servings an hour
This article from The Mainichi may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
The robot fetches soba noodles from a box with one arm, and places it in a strainer. Then with the other arm, it picks up the strainer and boils the noodles for a minute and 40 seconds, rinses off the viscous film on the surface and then dips the noodles in iced water to bring out their firmness. The robot can cook 150 servings in an hour, substituting the work of about one employee.
Connected Robotics commented, "Not only can it tackle the shortage of human resources, it can also cook without any human contact and is therefore useful in reducing the risk of coronavirus infections." JR East Foods, meanwhile, explained, "We aim to implement it (the robot) at 30 stores by the end of fiscal 2025."
Eoin Treacy's view
Upward pressure on minimum wages creates an incentive to do away with minimum wage workers. The trend in restaurants is towards online/tablet ordering and point of sale machine payments. Humans are required to clean up, serve, prepare and cook the food. The higher wages go the more intense efforts will be to do away with unskilled work.
Federal Reserves Powell Says CBDCs Need to Coexist With Cash
This article from Coindesk may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
In recent months, Powell has emphasized several times that the U.S. would not act fast on issuing a digital dollar because of the physical dollar’s status as the global reserve currency.
The latest comment, though, is in line with Powell’s previous remarks about the Fed taking the prospects for a digital dollar seriously. Powell has said the Fed will engage with the public on the topic in 2021 and will seek congressional approval before issuing one.
CBDCs are an early-stage payments innovation that governments hope can increase payments efficiency and lower costs by running them on blockchains. The details on CBDCs are still murky, and detractors argue most transactions today involve money that’s already digital.
There’s a fear some governments may use CBDCs for increased financial surveillance. At the moment, it looks like the U.S. could favor privacy in its CBDC development.
Eoin Treacy's view
I tuned in to this discussion on CNBC last night and what I found interesting is the eagerness central banks have in talking about digital currencies while at the same time saying they are in no rush.
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