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Last week

What’s with gold backwardation?

Gold’s forward curve rarely forms a backwardated structure but it’s flirting with the formation all the more frequently since Covid-19 struck.

By: Izabella Kaminska

Food delivery: if not now, then when?

Uber Eat’s results speak to structural problems in the no-longer nascent sector.

By: Jamie Powell

Further reading

Space; schools; exams; and much more.

By: Claire Jones

Markets Now - Thursday 6th August 2020

Last updated 1:00pm. Featuring Hammerson, Serco, Tesla, BMW, ITV, Glencore, XP Power, PageGroup, Dialog Semiconductor and Valeo.

By: Bryce Elder

Monzo: the bank that doesn’t want to be

Sometimes it’s good to be boring.

By: Jamie Powell

Further reading

Immunology and intuition; microbubbles; porn bombs; prawn cocktail crisps; and much more.

By: Jemima Kelly

A first in the history of capital markets?

When related party sales are your only business.

By: Jamie Powell

Markets Now - Wednesday 5th August 2020

Last updated 1:30pm. Featuring gold, BP, Legal & General, Land Securities, Metro Bank, ITV and horses.

By: Bryce Elder

Further reading

SaaSy business; Airline troubles; Print newspapers.

By: Izabella Kaminska

The Fyre Festival fire sale

  1. The entire economy is Fyre Festival, crypto edition
  2. When rent-seeking gets shameless
  3. Spotted in NYC: a very bad Twitter ad
  4. Turns out WeWork’s future is bright
  5. When risky zero-sum behaviours prop-up growth
  6. Will artificial intelligence destroy poker?
  7. Marketing in the Fyre Festival economy
  8. Uber becomes modern art
  9. Enron’s Glassdoor page
  10. Vaudeville, in pictures
  11. TEEIFF: confirmed by third parties
  12. The security and prosperity paradox, shoplifting edition
  13. Vaudeville, now with real celebrities
  14. How a guy called Colin Platt became the richest person in the world
  15. Why security tokens are categorically and absolutely not crypto tokens
  16. Today in TEEIFF
  17. The UK's used car write-off conundrum
  18. GMO's Montier on the rise of the dual economy
  19. Just because it's digital doesn't mean it's green
  20. Kylie Jenner is the world's youngest 'self-made billionaire'

Get your hands on a piece of finance fraud history for just a few hundred bucks!

By: Madison Darbyshire

Markets Now - Tuesday 4th August 2020

Last updated 12:30pm BST. Featuring BP, AA, BT, Natixis and swapping pharma for utilities.

By: Bryce Elder

Someone should have a word with the government’s graphics team

  1. Does anyone know what the coronavirus rules are any more?
  2. About that ‘two-metre rule’
  3. Someone should have a word with the government’s slogan department
  4. Clear messages are good. Nonsensical equations are not.
  5. Is it acceptable for government to be dishonest at a time like this?

The rules are crystal clear: WASH COVER MAKE. HANDS FACE SPACE.

By: Jemima Kelly

Further reading

Bank heists; SAAS securitisation; dividend bans and much more . . . 

By: Jamie Powell

Markets Now - Monday 3rd August 2020

Last updated 1.30pm BST. Featuring HSBC, Senior, Hammerson, MTU Aero Engines, Purplebricks and Elekta.

By: Bryce Elder

Cayman, Curaçao and Cyprus: the hunt for $240m of Russian bank bonds

Two-and-a-half years later, and noteholders are still working out how, let alone if, they’ll ever get their money back.

By: Laurence Fletcher

Further reading

Xi’s panopticon; Neil Ferguson vindicated; SPACs as IPOS.

By: Izabella Kaminska

Argentina’s debt dance: a pivot to the IMF?

Buenos Aires’ frustration in restructuring its debt ahead of a full-scale default speaks to an inherent conflict between sovereigns and their creditors. In light of this, the country may be better off waiting for the current negotiations to tail off than giving in to creditors’ demands.

By: Guest writer

Last month

Does anyone know what the coronavirus rules are any more?

  1. Someone should have a word with the government’s graphics team
  2. About that ‘two-metre rule’
  3. Someone should have a word with the government’s slogan department
  4. Clear messages are good. Nonsensical equations are not.
  5. Is it acceptable for government to be dishonest at a time like this?

It seems like it’s not just Nick Robinson’s mates who haven’t a clue.

By: Jemima Kelly

Further reading

Wirecard; Monaco; choirs; and much more.

By: Claire Jones

Markets Now - Thursday 30th July 2020

Last updated 2pm. Featuring GVC, Lloyds, Legal & General, Natwest and Equiniti

By: Bryce Elder

General Motors: age of Ultium

Time for a name change?

By: Jamie Powell

A bakery and beacon of hope re-opens its doors

Homebaked, a Liverpool social enterprise, thought it could emerge from the pandemic stronger. Weeks into its re-opening, has it?

By: Claire Jones

Further reading

Anti-vaxxers; big cats; disgraceful economics; hurtful social media; and much more.

By: Jemima Kelly

Markets Now - Wednesday 29th July 2020

Last updated 1:00pm. Featuring Cineworld, Carnival, Smurfit Kappa, Barclays, Next and a Unilever-Reckitt merger.

By: Bryce Elder

Once again Kodak pivots, and the share price explodes

  1. Blockchain: it really is a tough sell
  2. Sterling has not become an emerging market currency
  3. Jeff Ubben/ESG: flip flop
  4. Is this the nuttiest risk factor of all time?
  5. The tech start-up that wants to “validate” the female orgasm
  6. It’s a great time for conspiracy theories to thrive
  7. Let’s call Trump out, but let’s get our facts straight too
  8. Today, in efficient markets
  9. We can’t blame all the indirect health damage on the lockdown
  10. Weirdly, blockchain can’t help combat coronavirus 
  11. Leading ‘UK’ start-ups want a handout too
  12. China’s PMI print doesn’t mean much
  13. Let’s flatten the coronavirus confusion curve
  14. NMC Health: presented without comment
  15. When “commission-free trading” isn’t (really) free
  16. Michael Milken: financial innovator
  17. Oh no, the death-techers are coming
  18. Bitcoin’s “halvening” won’t boost its price 
  19. CEO of JPM, recipient of $bns in state aid, bashes socialism
  20. Trump just made a joke about negative rates

Remember KODAKCoin?

By: Jamie Powell

Sark: the island that dodged coronavirus

  1. The island of Sark goes into lockdown
  2. Will the lights go out on Sark this Christmas?
  3. Sark’s electricity crisis is brewing again
  4. Sark’s energy hits prices only billionaires can afford
  5. The sovereign movement
  6. Who's really got the upper hand in offshore tax negotiations?
  7. What can the failed Brecq-xit teach us about Brexit?
  8. Alphaville spent 36 hours on the island of Sark. Here's how it went.
  9. Could all of the lights go out on Sark?
  10. When fake news purveyors visit Sark

Could remote islands like this end up becoming attractive for remote working?

By: Jemima Kelly

Further reading

Inflation and pandemics; a case on cash; QAnon; and much more.

By: Claire Jones

SnapAV: throw away your television

TV ad spend Stateside is set to take a nosedive.

By: Jamie Powell

Markets Now - Tuesday 28th July 2020

Last updated 12:30pm BST. Featuring BT, TalkTalk, Deutsche Telekom, Berkeley, Centrica and Cairn Energy.

By: Bryce Elder

Further reading

UBI; bubble or nothing; SAP and much more . . . 

By: Jamie Powell

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