Summary This week, the spotlight was the FED chair speech at the Jackson Hole symposium. No news...they are data dependent and we'll have to wait. The speech was neutral, in my opinion.   In the US, new orders for manufactured durable goods plummeted by 5.2% in July 2023, the sharpest decrease since the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020, driven by a significant drop in demand for transport equipment.   The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) meeting in South Africa was also in the agenda for the week. The summit was held in Johannesburg, Aug 22-24 2023. Vladimir Putin attended the meeting virtually. Xi skipped the event, despite the presence of counterparts Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Xi's remarks were delivered by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and it was not clear why Xi, who had a meeting with host Ramaphosa earlier in the day, did not...

Summary   China’s industrial production only grew 3.7% year-on-year compared to the expected 4.4%, while retail sales posted an even bigger miss, coming in 2% lower than forecasts at 2.5%. What's more is that less than an hour before the release of the July data, China's central bank cut a key interest rate by 15bps to 2.50%, marking the biggest cut in more than three years. But more alarming is the slump in the real estate sector, especially as China’s largest private property developer Country Garden missed almost $21mn in interest payments and suspended trading in at least 10 of its mainland bonds, suggesting the firm is on the brink of default. These are painful days in China.   Retail sales in the US were up 0.7% month-over-month in July of 2023, beating market forecasts of a 0.4% increase. Consumer spending remains strong despite high prices and borrowing costs. Sales in July likely got a boost from Amazon's Prime Day. Sales at nonstore retailers recorded the biggest ...

Develop a Positive Mental Attitude   Video: Napoleon Hill - Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) - RARE LIVE LECTURE Channel: Master Key Society Video: Estratégias para uma melhor renda | Jim Rohn | Motivacional | Only High Values (Strategies for a Better Income) Channel: Only High Values   Video: This Jim Rohn Speech Will Make You Unstoppable | Motivational Compilation Channel: Let's Become Successful Video: THE COURAGE TO TRUST YOURSELF Channel: Gravemind

The Stories of Morgan Stanley, and Charles Schwab Video: The Twisted History of Morgan Stanley | A Wall Street Documentary Channel: FINAiUS   Video: The Dyslexic Man Who Built a 7 Trillion Dollar Empire | Charles Schwab Documentary Channel: FINAiUS

Summary and Comment In July 2022, Ukraine and Russia made a deal that allowed the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, easing a global food crisis sparked by the war. However, last month The grain deal expired (on 17 July 2023). Since then, Russia has launched a series of air attacks on Ukraine's ports, destroying an estimated 60,000 tonnes of grain.Russia’s and Ukraine’s bombing of each other’s ports could prevent crucial grain exports from reaching world markets, and lift food prices up again. Yet the attacks could also persuade the two enemy countries it’s in their mutual interest to strike a new grain deal. A lot will depend on whether the United States and Europe are ready to provide proper guarantees that Russian food exports can reach world markets. Allowing the Kremlin’s agriculture bank to reconnect with the SWIFT international payments system, as Putin has asked, would be a minor concession. Both Moscow and Kyiv know by now that protecting the...

China's Challenges and Outlook   The China re-opening and post-covid recovery has been disappointing. China's economy is in a deflationary environment, exports are slowing, the housing market went bust, and without CCP intervention/stimulus the growth promises for the year 2023 might not be met. Other challenges of China include the population growth slowdown and the attitude of the newer generations towards work (with youth unemployment in excess of 20%) and life in general. How will China's most recent high-tech investments turn out?   Video: China's Economy Slips into Deflation, Officials Fear Xi Jinping's Wrath | Vantage with Palki Sharma Channel: Firstpost   Video: ‘Let it rot’: surviving China's high unemployment and cost of living Channel: South China Morning Post   Video: Will the US Respond to China? - John MacGregor Channel: The Rich Dad Channel Video: Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked? Channel: South China Morning Post...

  Video: Codie Sanchez on The Businesses That Will Build Wealth FOR You Channel: BiggerPockets Video: How to get SO rich you question the meaning of making money Channel: Alex Hormozi

On Globalism https://londonreal.tv/g-edward-griffin-there-is-a-war-to-control-your-mind-we-must-stop-it-now/# Video: Plandemic: The Great Awakening FULL MOVIE Channel: London Real Using CBDC as the Ultimate Form of Control and Power Video: G. Edward Griffin on the Rothschilds, CBDC & the New World Order & How to Stop It Channel: London Real The Hidden Tax of Inflation. Video: Inflation: Most Brutal Form Of Taxation | Michael Pento Channel: Liberty and Finance Big Companies. ESG. Soros is Like God? Video: Patrick Bet-David Deconstructs BlackRock's Influence and ESG Ratings Channel: PowerfulJRE

Summary and Comment   The Eurozone economy grew by 0.6% year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2023, easing from a 1.1% expansion in the previous period but slightly surpassing market consensus of 0.5%, a preliminary estimate showed. It was the weakest pace of growth since the 2020-21 period. We may question this number, as it is only an estimate, and given the significant inflation, we can wonder whether the inflation adjustment was adequate or not. The economy has stalled. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left its key interest rates unchanged at 4.10%, saying past increases were working to cool demand, but also flagged that some more rate hikes might be needed to curb inflation. Price pressures in the country had slowed to a 13-month low in May for the second quarter, which pointed towards reduced consumer spending. On Wednesday (Aug. 2, 2023), the S&P 500 fell 1.4%. Also, AMD issued a weaker guidance for the third quarter, leading chip stocks lower. This is good, to ...