Wednesday, 9 August: Overnight geo-political tensions were raised as Trump once again got ‘up in North Korea’s face’. Terminology such as ‘fire and fury like the world has never seen’ surprisingly not helping to calm any kind of situation between Kim Jong-un and the US. With that said, the positive start to the week was brought to a sharp halt on Wednesday, and it seems as though this will be enough to stop the Dow and other US bourses winning streaks. The FTSE opened lower and eventually closed the session 0.59% lower, with the CAC worst hit in Europe, perhaps made worse by a suspected small terror attack this morning as guards were intentionally rammed with a car. Safe havens naturally became sought after today and as we write silver is up over 3% and gold is +1.65%.
Today also marked what is believed to be the 10 year anniversary since the financial crisis. Which is scary to think it was 10 years ago, and this possibly seems like it was a lot more recent due to the fact of how long the world felt the effects for, in some cases residue of the crisis still sits heavy. But yes, it is 10 years ago since French bank BNP Paribas sent a letter to investors explaining why it couldn’t value its investments in the US property market (helpful). From there panic began to ensue and well the rest is fairly graphic history. Here’s a link to that very announcement;
Of course in the 10 years, despite the fact we are still feeling some effects, a lot has changed. Regulations have become far tighter and certainly stock market behaviour is now one of a new norm. In stark reality, given the fact that 10 years on we sit amidst two of the most controversial and unpredictable world leaders making nuclear threats, 2007 doesn’t seem all that bad.