currency
What is the best way to hold more traditional stores of value, such as gold? Mark Harrison, CFA, and Keyur Patel explore the question in the latest edition of the In Practice series.
The world over, it has been a season of resets. In India, there has been an unprecedented stir in the country’s political economy following the government’s recent decision to ban a large proportion of circulating cash.
The protection of global purchasing power in the wake of Brexit underscores the need to replace the use of a single reference currency with the introduction of a suitable currency basket, says Giuseppe Ballocchi, CFA.
Though the post-Brexit referendum era is still in its early stages, the initial developments in the aftermath of the vote are in keeping with the results of a recent CFA Institute and the CFA Society of the UK survey.
Carry trades profit from investor herding just like momentum strategies. As more and more investors pour money into high-interest currencies and borrow on low-interest currencies, the demand for the former rises. This herding behavior can continue for quite some time, but it comes to a halt when investors are no longer willing to invest in high-interest currencies.
"As January goes, so goes the year." If you believe in the January barometer, as many market practitioners do, brace yourself for a wild ride in the coming year.
When I first took a serious look at bitcoin, I focused on its potential as a currency. It was hard not to notice the enthusiasm for bitcoin among a number of its proponents. But I balked nevertheless. I felt that bitcoin would have a common enemy in governments around the world, implying that it would be outlawed, burdened with onerous regulation, taxed, or otherwise butchered beyond recognition by policy.
Having risen to more than $1,100 per bitcoin in trading just a few months ago, bitcoin has subsequently experienced a good deal of turmoil and volatility.
Nicholas J. Colas of ConvergEx Group discusses his views on Bitcoin as an alternative currency payment system and phenomenon.
Is gold an really an inflation hedge? Is it a safe haven in times of stress? Cam Harvey has investigated some of the common arguments made in favor of gold.