The Payments Value Chain by Quartr
They jave updated our highly appreciated infographic explaining the complex payments layer between consumers and merchants. It illustrates how and where key players such as $V, $MA, $FISV, $ADYEN, $AMZN, and $PYPL fit in. Source: Quartr
Contemporary art beats stocks and Basquiat beats apple
Since 11/84, Jean-Michel Basquiat has been generating higher annualized return than apple... Source: Chartr
Friday Humor
Food for Thought
Is the US banking crisis really over?
Unrealized losses on investment securities held by US banks hit $684 billion in Q3, according to the FDIC. This marks a 22.5% jump compared to unrealized losses seen last year. The jump was primarily driven by rising mortgages rates reducing the value of mortgage-backed securities held by banks. Despite these challenges, the FDIC states that banks remain "well capitalized." This comes as usage of the Fed's emergency funding facility for banks hit another record high of $114 billion. Source: The Kobeissi Letter
Massive change over the past 5 weeks when it comes to what the market is pricing from FED
Source: TME, Bloomberg
The German labor market is now sending out alarm signals despite the shortage of skilled workers
Germany’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.9% in November, the highest level in 2.5 years. Joblessness increased by 22k. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
This chart shows that correlation between stocks and long duration bonds remain quite high
This is a regime change from previous decade and has implications for portfolio construction. Source: J-C Parets
Is massive buying by China the main reason for the current gold rally?
Gold trading above $2,000 despite real fund rates above 2% and the strong dollar is one of the main surprises of 2023. One theory is that China's "Massive Accumulation Of Gold" is behind Gold resilience this year. Indeed, according to unofficial tallies - such as that kept by Gainesville Coins analyst Jan Nieuwenhuijs - total gold purchases by the Chinese central bank (reported and unreported) are significantly bigger than what has been officially disclosed, and in Q3 alone, China purchased 179 tonnes of physical; year-to-date the PBoC bought 593 tonnes, which is 80% more than what it bought in the first three quarters last year. As such, China's total estimated gold holdings are 5,220 tonnes, more than twice what’s officially disclosed at 2,192 tonnes... Source: www.zerohedge.com
