TranslationBusiness/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
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Suliso
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
I wonder what happened with microloans in developing countries? It was a big rage few years ago, but nobody talks about it anymore...
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ponchi101
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
And a quick search says that they were successful.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
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dryrunguy
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
They're still around, suliso. I resumed lending on Kiva last summer after taking a few years off. At any given point, Kiva typically has about 4000 to 9000 loans fundraising. That's a small drop in the bucket compared to what's happening globally.
A few observations from just the Kivasphere... While microlending has reached much of the unbanked/underbanked world, there are still large swaths of regions that still haven't been reached. But getting there isn't easy or even possible for many geopolitical reasons. A lot of organizations that used to rely heavily on organizations like Kiva and traditional banks for capital have outgrown those seedling funding sources and can operate on their own or have moved on to larger, stable underwriting sources. Which is great. Of course, many others folded too. Those are just a few examples. Predatory lending is still a thing. It always will be.
I became frustrated with Kiva as they moved more and more toward larger enterprise loans worth $200K-$500K that were designed to benefit thousands of people but were still very high risk and experimental. Those types of loans are very popular. I much prefer loans for the person in Honduras who is expanding their grocery store's inventory, or the person who bakes traditional bread in Tajikistan, or the woman in Guatemala who makes and sells traditional clothing. But that's me.
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mmmm8
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Beyond Dry's comments, there are still many NGOs that are supporting and enabling microlending, it's just less "new" so gets less press.
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Exxon CEO calls Venezuela ‘uninvestable’ without ‘significant changes’
At Trump meeting with oil executives, he vows they will spend $100 billion. The companies worry the numbers don’t add up.
Updated
January 9, 2026 at 7:39 p.m. EST yesterday at 7:39 p.m. EST
By Evan Halper
As President Donald Trump pushed U.S. oil companies to commit to invest $100 billion in Venezuela at a White House meeting on Friday, the CEO of ExxonMobil warned the company is far from enlisting.
CEO Darren Woods said that Venezuela is “uninvestable” after Trump asked him how long it would take the firm to restart operations there. He added that “significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections,” and there needs to be a rewrite of the laws governing oil production in Venezuela.
He would only commit to sending a technical team to the country shortly to begin assessing the situation. The exchange underscored how the industry is struggling to chart a course that will please the president without spending recklessly on risky drilling ventures.
The afternoon meeting was attended by several major oil companies in addition to Exxon, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell. Chevron is the only U.S. firm operational in Venezuela. Trump vowed the companies that commit to pumping in Venezuela will make substantial profits, but the firms, aware of the extremely challenging economics and security concerns around drilling in the unstable Latin American nation, are hesitant to commit.
“American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela’s rotting energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never seen before,” Trump said at the start of the meeting. “Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money.”
“We are going to be making the decision as to which oil companies can go in, which we will allow to go in,” he said.
Woods noted that Exxon has twice had its infrastructure expropriated by the Venezuelan government in the past. The company is still owed about $1 billion. Another firm at the meeting, ConocoPhillips, is still owed almost $9 billion in Venezuela, as a result of its assets being expropriated there. But Trump told the firms that are owed money that they will not get any special consideration in dealmaking.
“We’re going to start with an even plate,” he said. “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault. That was a different president. You’re going to make a lot of money, but we’re not going to go back.”
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods speaks during a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House on Friday. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)
Trump vowed that security on the ground would not be an issue for companies, even as Venezuela continues to be one of the most dangerous places for any business to operate and oil firms have repeatedly expressed concern about the safety of their workers. Trump did not explain how the U.S. would provide such security guarantees.
While the largest oil U.S. companies hedged, some of the executives in the room said they would heed Trump’s call. Among the most enthusiastic was Jeff Hildebrand of Hilcorp, a large, privately owned oil and gas producer.
“Thank you for your great, tremendous leadership in protecting the interests in the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “The message that you have sent to China and our enemies to stay out of our backyard is absolutely fantastic … Hilcorp is fully committed and ready to go to rebuilding the infrastructure in Venezuela.”
Josu Jon Imaz, the CEO of Repsol, a Spanish company, told Trump that the firm is pumping 45,000 barrels a day in Venezuela and is prepared to scale that up in the coming years, “investing hard in the country following your recommendation,” if the proper commercial and legal “framework” is established.
After a lengthy back-and-forth with the news media Friday during the event with energy executives, Trump told reporters to leave the room “and we will see what kind of a deal we’re going to make with these geniuses.”
Expanded drilling by U.S. firms in Venezuela is a key pillar of Trump’s plan for overhauling the economy and government of Venezuela, a nation that once produced almost four times the amount of oil it does today and badly needs revenue from its vast reserves for its recovery. But after its infrastructure has fallen into disrepair in recent years and U.S. firms that operated there saw their assets expropriated by the socialist regime, there is limited corporate appetite for investing the tens of billions of dollars it would require over as long as a decade to return that country to production levels of the past.
The picture is further complicated by the White House quest for low prices, with oil trading for less than $60 a barrel and the administration aiming to drive it down significantly more. Trump posted on social media ahead of the meeting that “a very big factor” in U.S. involvement in Venezuela is “the reduction of Oil Prices for the American People.”
During the roundtable with oil CEOs, Trump said drilling in Venezuela would create “massive wealth. And more importantly than massive wealth, it leads to lower taxes and a lot of jobs for Americans and for Venezuelans.”
Lower oil prices, however, make it financially unsound for companies to invest in new drilling in Venezuela, where the research firm Wood MacKenzie suggests firms would need to make as much as $80 per barrel to break even.
“The math doesn’t work,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston. “No oil company is going to invest money in a losing venture.”
The economic realities have moved Trump to suggest that perhaps the United States will find some way to subsidize U.S. firms that invest in Venezuela. It is a fraught prospect. Members of Congress are already warning the oil executives against entering into any deal that involves U.S. tax dollars, with Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and eight other Democratic senators sending a letter to oil executives Friday warning them that any subsidies the administration offers them could be rescinded by lawmakers.
U.S. competitors to the major oil companies that could have the capability of drilling in Venezuela are meanwhile strongly urging the White House against offering any incentives. They are dismayed by the administration’s strategy on Venezuela, which they warn threatens to undermine the domestic oil industry. Rig counts in the United States have already been dropping amid the strain of low prices, with producers laying off large numbers of U.S. oil field workers.
“A lot of the domestic oil and gas companies are getting killed by this, because the administration is saying, ‘we will prop up a foreign country to produce more oil for the world market,’” said D. Kirk Edwards, an oil and gas executive and former chairman of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. “It is a shot in the face of the domestic industry to try to prop up a foreign competitor like this.”
“It would be like going to Brazil, taking them over for their cattle, and then flooding the American beef market with it,” he said. “That’s the analogy we see in the oil and gas business.”
For the White House, it all underscores the tension of its competing goals: lower prices at the pump as much as possible while also pushing oil companies to drill more at home and abroad. The problem is that driving prices down by flooding the market with more oil takes away the financial viability of expanded drilling.
“The administration is talking out of both sides of its mouth in saying they want prices down to $50 a barrel and expanded production,” said Morgan Downey, a commodities trader and the author of the book “Oil 101.” “You can’t have both. It does not make sense. It is pure politics.”
He said industry executives eager to stay on the good side of the White House have to publicly “smile and tell the president, ‘yes, you are making great decisions.’ But the numbers don’t add up.” He is skeptical there will be much of any new production in Venezuela by U.S. firms absent drastic shifts in market prices.
The administration’s actions have focused on the oil Venezuela has already pumped and could produce itself in the foreseeable future. Trump announced early this week that 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil will be routed to the U.S., where it will be refined and sold into the market. It is a relatively small amount of crude, the equivalent of what is produced by U.S. drillers over a few days. Administration officials said any oil Venezuela pumps will also be sent to U.S. refineries.
The arrangement irks companies drilling wells in places such as West Texas and North Dakota. Edwards said that instead of refining the Venezuelan oil and selling into the market, the administration should just ship it directly to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was drawn down by the Biden administration to stabilize soaring gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
“That would actually help solve an energy security problem for the country,” he said.
Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... ela-exxon/
Correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly attributed the comments of Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz about company plans for Venezuela to Shell CEO Wael Sawan. Sawan said at the meeting "we have kept boots on the ground in Venezuela all this time, and we now have a few billion dollars’ worth of opportunities to invest in."
At Trump meeting with oil executives, he vows they will spend $100 billion. The companies worry the numbers don’t add up.
Updated
January 9, 2026 at 7:39 p.m. EST yesterday at 7:39 p.m. EST
By Evan Halper
As President Donald Trump pushed U.S. oil companies to commit to invest $100 billion in Venezuela at a White House meeting on Friday, the CEO of ExxonMobil warned the company is far from enlisting.
CEO Darren Woods said that Venezuela is “uninvestable” after Trump asked him how long it would take the firm to restart operations there. He added that “significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections,” and there needs to be a rewrite of the laws governing oil production in Venezuela.
He would only commit to sending a technical team to the country shortly to begin assessing the situation. The exchange underscored how the industry is struggling to chart a course that will please the president without spending recklessly on risky drilling ventures.
The afternoon meeting was attended by several major oil companies in addition to Exxon, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell. Chevron is the only U.S. firm operational in Venezuela. Trump vowed the companies that commit to pumping in Venezuela will make substantial profits, but the firms, aware of the extremely challenging economics and security concerns around drilling in the unstable Latin American nation, are hesitant to commit.
“American companies will have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela’s rotting energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never seen before,” Trump said at the start of the meeting. “Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money.”
“We are going to be making the decision as to which oil companies can go in, which we will allow to go in,” he said.
Woods noted that Exxon has twice had its infrastructure expropriated by the Venezuelan government in the past. The company is still owed about $1 billion. Another firm at the meeting, ConocoPhillips, is still owed almost $9 billion in Venezuela, as a result of its assets being expropriated there. But Trump told the firms that are owed money that they will not get any special consideration in dealmaking.
“We’re going to start with an even plate,” he said. “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past because that was their fault. That was a different president. You’re going to make a lot of money, but we’re not going to go back.”
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods speaks during a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House on Friday. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)
Trump vowed that security on the ground would not be an issue for companies, even as Venezuela continues to be one of the most dangerous places for any business to operate and oil firms have repeatedly expressed concern about the safety of their workers. Trump did not explain how the U.S. would provide such security guarantees.
While the largest oil U.S. companies hedged, some of the executives in the room said they would heed Trump’s call. Among the most enthusiastic was Jeff Hildebrand of Hilcorp, a large, privately owned oil and gas producer.
“Thank you for your great, tremendous leadership in protecting the interests in the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “The message that you have sent to China and our enemies to stay out of our backyard is absolutely fantastic … Hilcorp is fully committed and ready to go to rebuilding the infrastructure in Venezuela.”
Josu Jon Imaz, the CEO of Repsol, a Spanish company, told Trump that the firm is pumping 45,000 barrels a day in Venezuela and is prepared to scale that up in the coming years, “investing hard in the country following your recommendation,” if the proper commercial and legal “framework” is established.
After a lengthy back-and-forth with the news media Friday during the event with energy executives, Trump told reporters to leave the room “and we will see what kind of a deal we’re going to make with these geniuses.”
Expanded drilling by U.S. firms in Venezuela is a key pillar of Trump’s plan for overhauling the economy and government of Venezuela, a nation that once produced almost four times the amount of oil it does today and badly needs revenue from its vast reserves for its recovery. But after its infrastructure has fallen into disrepair in recent years and U.S. firms that operated there saw their assets expropriated by the socialist regime, there is limited corporate appetite for investing the tens of billions of dollars it would require over as long as a decade to return that country to production levels of the past.
The picture is further complicated by the White House quest for low prices, with oil trading for less than $60 a barrel and the administration aiming to drive it down significantly more. Trump posted on social media ahead of the meeting that “a very big factor” in U.S. involvement in Venezuela is “the reduction of Oil Prices for the American People.”
During the roundtable with oil CEOs, Trump said drilling in Venezuela would create “massive wealth. And more importantly than massive wealth, it leads to lower taxes and a lot of jobs for Americans and for Venezuelans.”
Lower oil prices, however, make it financially unsound for companies to invest in new drilling in Venezuela, where the research firm Wood MacKenzie suggests firms would need to make as much as $80 per barrel to break even.
“The math doesn’t work,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston. “No oil company is going to invest money in a losing venture.”
The economic realities have moved Trump to suggest that perhaps the United States will find some way to subsidize U.S. firms that invest in Venezuela. It is a fraught prospect. Members of Congress are already warning the oil executives against entering into any deal that involves U.S. tax dollars, with Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and eight other Democratic senators sending a letter to oil executives Friday warning them that any subsidies the administration offers them could be rescinded by lawmakers.
U.S. competitors to the major oil companies that could have the capability of drilling in Venezuela are meanwhile strongly urging the White House against offering any incentives. They are dismayed by the administration’s strategy on Venezuela, which they warn threatens to undermine the domestic oil industry. Rig counts in the United States have already been dropping amid the strain of low prices, with producers laying off large numbers of U.S. oil field workers.
“A lot of the domestic oil and gas companies are getting killed by this, because the administration is saying, ‘we will prop up a foreign country to produce more oil for the world market,’” said D. Kirk Edwards, an oil and gas executive and former chairman of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. “It is a shot in the face of the domestic industry to try to prop up a foreign competitor like this.”
“It would be like going to Brazil, taking them over for their cattle, and then flooding the American beef market with it,” he said. “That’s the analogy we see in the oil and gas business.”
For the White House, it all underscores the tension of its competing goals: lower prices at the pump as much as possible while also pushing oil companies to drill more at home and abroad. The problem is that driving prices down by flooding the market with more oil takes away the financial viability of expanded drilling.
“The administration is talking out of both sides of its mouth in saying they want prices down to $50 a barrel and expanded production,” said Morgan Downey, a commodities trader and the author of the book “Oil 101.” “You can’t have both. It does not make sense. It is pure politics.”
He said industry executives eager to stay on the good side of the White House have to publicly “smile and tell the president, ‘yes, you are making great decisions.’ But the numbers don’t add up.” He is skeptical there will be much of any new production in Venezuela by U.S. firms absent drastic shifts in market prices.
The administration’s actions have focused on the oil Venezuela has already pumped and could produce itself in the foreseeable future. Trump announced early this week that 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil will be routed to the U.S., where it will be refined and sold into the market. It is a relatively small amount of crude, the equivalent of what is produced by U.S. drillers over a few days. Administration officials said any oil Venezuela pumps will also be sent to U.S. refineries.
The arrangement irks companies drilling wells in places such as West Texas and North Dakota. Edwards said that instead of refining the Venezuelan oil and selling into the market, the administration should just ship it directly to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was drawn down by the Biden administration to stabilize soaring gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
“That would actually help solve an energy security problem for the country,” he said.
Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... ela-exxon/
Correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly attributed the comments of Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz about company plans for Venezuela to Shell CEO Wael Sawan. Sawan said at the meeting "we have kept boots on the ground in Venezuela all this time, and we now have a few billion dollars’ worth of opportunities to invest in."
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
He's talking to the oil execs as if he's talking to MAGAts. When the overall response is that "the math ain't mathing" it seems that this meeting was nothing more than a PR exercise and that they have no clue what it takes to do business other than him getting a cut. That's why he threw the press out.
Trump spent hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to grab Venezuela's oil and install a Trump-friendly administration.....all before checking to see if any oil CEO's wanted to commit $100 billion dollars towards reviving the failing Venezuelan economy. They told him it's "too risky". He is lying through this entire "operation" having no clue how he is going to get from a to b. Now he needs big money and the government of Venezuela remains the same under Maduro's handpicked successors. If this isn't a staggering level of utter incompetence, then I don't know what would be.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... link-share
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ponchi101
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Any oil company that commits to Venezuela will see it stock drop considerably. Like everything, he does not understand the oil business.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Mueller, She Wrote
@muellershewrote.com
· 2h
The markets did everything they could to hold steady in the face of the Jerome Powell subpoenas, but I’m not sure they’ll do well with this news.
Nicolai von Ondarza
@nvondarza.bsky.social
· 3h
Looks like the EU-US trade deal is now dead, with all three major groups in the EU Parliament calling at least for suspension. The downward spiral has already begun.
ETTD
@muellershewrote.com
· 2h
The markets did everything they could to hold steady in the face of the Jerome Powell subpoenas, but I’m not sure they’ll do well with this news.
Nicolai von Ondarza
@nvondarza.bsky.social
· 3h
Looks like the EU-US trade deal is now dead, with all three major groups in the EU Parliament calling at least for suspension. The downward spiral has already begun.
ETTD
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
‘This is sell America’ — U.S. dollar, Treasury prices tumble and gold spikes as globe flees U.S. assets
Published Tue, Jan 20 20268:49 AM EST Updated 5 Hours Ago
Alex Harring
Key Points
The “sell America” trade is in full swing Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump’s latest threats around Greenland pushed global investors to shift exposure away from U.S.-centric investments.
The U.S. dollar index headed for its biggest decline since April. U.S. bond prices tumbled, sending yields spiking.
The “sell America” trade is in full swing Tuesday morning after President Donald Trump and European leaders escalated tensions over Greenland.
U.S. bond prices tumbled, sending yields spiking. The U.S. Dollar Index
, which weighs the greenback against a basket of six foreign currencies, fell nearly 1%. The euro jumped 0.6% against the dollar.
“This is ‘sell America’ again within a much broader global risk off,” Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central banking strategy at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note to clients.
Precious metals gold and silver marched to fresh highs. Gold, which has long been viewed as a safe-haven investment during periods of geopolitical turmoil, was on track for its biggest one-day gain since 2020.
U.S. stocks tumbled as investors mitigated exposure to American assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid more than 800 points, while the S&P 500
and Nasdaq Composite each dropped more than 2%. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), known Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” spiked to a highs last seen in November.
The latest flare-up in so-called sell America positioning follows Trump’s threats to impose 10% tariffs on eight European countries as part of his push to take over Greenland. Representatives from the 27-nation European Union gathered for an emergency meeting in response to Trump’s tariff call, which he said would start Feb. 1 and then rise to 25% on June 1.
Greenland has repeatedly rejected Trump’s request to purchase the arctic island, with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen saying Monday that it would “not be pressured” and “stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law.” European officials are reportedly considering using a salvo of counter-tariffs and other punitive economic measures against the U.S. in retaliation.
The “sell America” trade suggests that global investors will place higher risk premiums on U.S. investments amid fears that the U.S. is no longer a reliable trading partner. Following Trump’s latest threats, some investors worry that European countries could dump U.S. assets in a show of power.
“On the other side of trade, deficits, and trade wars, there are capital and capital wars,” Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If you take the conflicts, you can’t ignore the possibility of the capital wars. In other words, maybe there’s not the same inclination to buy ... U.S. debt and so on.”
The drop in the U.S. Dollar Index was the largest since Trump’s so-called Liberation Day rollout of sharply higher tariffs in April, many of which were subsequently pared back.
International markets continued to slide Tuesday after starting to retreat on Monday, when U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Trump’s latest threats to tariff French wine and other imported goods rattled investors who feared the U.S. would no longer act as an unwavering commercial ally of Europe. The pan-European Stoxx 600 extended its recent decline, following Asian markets into the red.
Evercore ISI’s Guha said the dollar falling and the euro rising suggests that global investors are “looking to reduce or hedge their exposure to a volatile and unreliable” United States. Impacts on the dollar and other U.S. assets could be severe and long-term, if Trump does not walk back his plans — a trade known as “TACO,” or “Trump Always Chickens Out,” that was coined last spring — or find a compromise, Guha said.
“What remains to be determined is the magnitude and duration of these dynamics,” Guha said.
More broadly, investors may be looking for ways to diversify away from U.S. stocks at a time when indexes are near all-time highs and American equities take up a majority of the world’s total market capitalization, according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Markets may already be pricing in full the concept of American exceptionalism, at least barring an epic, crack-up economic boom,” Mould said. “It may therefore not take too much to persuade investors to hedge their bets and diversify.”
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Yun Li and Chloe Taylor contributed to this report.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/20/sell-am ... nland.html
Published Tue, Jan 20 20268:49 AM EST Updated 5 Hours Ago
Alex Harring
Key Points
The “sell America” trade is in full swing Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump’s latest threats around Greenland pushed global investors to shift exposure away from U.S.-centric investments.
The U.S. dollar index headed for its biggest decline since April. U.S. bond prices tumbled, sending yields spiking.
The “sell America” trade is in full swing Tuesday morning after President Donald Trump and European leaders escalated tensions over Greenland.
U.S. bond prices tumbled, sending yields spiking. The U.S. Dollar Index
, which weighs the greenback against a basket of six foreign currencies, fell nearly 1%. The euro jumped 0.6% against the dollar.
“This is ‘sell America’ again within a much broader global risk off,” Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central banking strategy at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note to clients.
Precious metals gold and silver marched to fresh highs. Gold, which has long been viewed as a safe-haven investment during periods of geopolitical turmoil, was on track for its biggest one-day gain since 2020.
U.S. stocks tumbled as investors mitigated exposure to American assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid more than 800 points, while the S&P 500
and Nasdaq Composite each dropped more than 2%. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), known Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” spiked to a highs last seen in November.
The latest flare-up in so-called sell America positioning follows Trump’s threats to impose 10% tariffs on eight European countries as part of his push to take over Greenland. Representatives from the 27-nation European Union gathered for an emergency meeting in response to Trump’s tariff call, which he said would start Feb. 1 and then rise to 25% on June 1.
Greenland has repeatedly rejected Trump’s request to purchase the arctic island, with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen saying Monday that it would “not be pressured” and “stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law.” European officials are reportedly considering using a salvo of counter-tariffs and other punitive economic measures against the U.S. in retaliation.
The “sell America” trade suggests that global investors will place higher risk premiums on U.S. investments amid fears that the U.S. is no longer a reliable trading partner. Following Trump’s latest threats, some investors worry that European countries could dump U.S. assets in a show of power.
“On the other side of trade, deficits, and trade wars, there are capital and capital wars,” Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If you take the conflicts, you can’t ignore the possibility of the capital wars. In other words, maybe there’s not the same inclination to buy ... U.S. debt and so on.”
The drop in the U.S. Dollar Index was the largest since Trump’s so-called Liberation Day rollout of sharply higher tariffs in April, many of which were subsequently pared back.
International markets continued to slide Tuesday after starting to retreat on Monday, when U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Trump’s latest threats to tariff French wine and other imported goods rattled investors who feared the U.S. would no longer act as an unwavering commercial ally of Europe. The pan-European Stoxx 600 extended its recent decline, following Asian markets into the red.
Evercore ISI’s Guha said the dollar falling and the euro rising suggests that global investors are “looking to reduce or hedge their exposure to a volatile and unreliable” United States. Impacts on the dollar and other U.S. assets could be severe and long-term, if Trump does not walk back his plans — a trade known as “TACO,” or “Trump Always Chickens Out,” that was coined last spring — or find a compromise, Guha said.
“What remains to be determined is the magnitude and duration of these dynamics,” Guha said.
More broadly, investors may be looking for ways to diversify away from U.S. stocks at a time when indexes are near all-time highs and American equities take up a majority of the world’s total market capitalization, according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Markets may already be pricing in full the concept of American exceptionalism, at least barring an epic, crack-up economic boom,” Mould said. “It may therefore not take too much to persuade investors to hedge their bets and diversify.”
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Yun Li and Chloe Taylor contributed to this report.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/20/sell-am ... nland.html
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Carl Quintanilla
@carlquintanilla.bsky.social
The lesson of the past two weeks, whether you’re the EU, South Korea or any other trading nation: you may THINK you have a “deal” with Donald Trump.
You don’t.
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/9982...
https://professional.ft.com/en-gb/servi ... cd14c7ad55
Tricky pay wall
@carlquintanilla.bsky.social
The lesson of the past two weeks, whether you’re the EU, South Korea or any other trading nation: you may THINK you have a “deal” with Donald Trump.
You don’t.
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/9982...
https://professional.ft.com/en-gb/servi ... cd14c7ad55
Tricky pay wall
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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dryrunguy
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Posted today by LinkedIn News
Last month was the worst January for job-cut announcements since the Great Recession, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. U.S. companies announced 108,435 cuts — a nearly 120% increase year-over-year. Hiring intentions, meanwhile, fell 13% from the year before, hitting their lowest level since 2009. Almost half of the January reductions were linked to just three companies: Amazon, UPS and Dow. Jobless claims jumped in the last week of the month thanks to severe weather. December wasn't great, either: Job openings fell to a five-year low.
Source articles linked in the piece:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... since-2009
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/big ... e-6945012/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
Last month was the worst January for job-cut announcements since the Great Recession, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. U.S. companies announced 108,435 cuts — a nearly 120% increase year-over-year. Hiring intentions, meanwhile, fell 13% from the year before, hitting their lowest level since 2009. Almost half of the January reductions were linked to just three companies: Amazon, UPS and Dow. Jobless claims jumped in the last week of the month thanks to severe weather. December wasn't great, either: Job openings fell to a five-year low.
Source articles linked in the piece:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... since-2009
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/big ... e-6945012/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
Thank you for this information.dryrunguy wrote: ↑Thu Feb 05, 2026 11:32 pm Posted today by LinkedIn News
Last month was the worst January for job-cut announcements since the Great Recession, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. U.S. companies announced 108,435 cuts — a nearly 120% increase year-over-year. Hiring intentions, meanwhile, fell 13% from the year before, hitting their lowest level since 2009. Almost half of the January reductions were linked to just three companies: Amazon, UPS and Dow. Jobless claims jumped in the last week of the month thanks to severe weather. December wasn't great, either: Job openings fell to a five-year low.
Source articles linked in the piece:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... since-2009
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/big ... e-6945012/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... e-americas
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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mmmm8
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
With consumer spending up, you've got to think those job cuts are driven by automation.
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Suliso
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ponchi101
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Re: Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random
So. What is the point at which the lines cross? You have more unemployed people, who traditionally spend less (I believe), but your automation produces more now.
What is the balance point of an acceptable level of unemployment? Not for the unemployed (they are screwed totally, especially if they are young workers) but for a society that wants to maximize efficiency?
And.
How about 3rd world countries, in which installing automating equipment that is not even made in-country (automatic check out machines) brings a certain level of unemployment, but also does not improve local industrial output.
What is the balance point of an acceptable level of unemployment? Not for the unemployed (they are screwed totally, especially if they are young workers) but for a society that wants to maximize efficiency?
And.
How about 3rd world countries, in which installing automating equipment that is not even made in-country (automatic check out machines) brings a certain level of unemployment, but also does not improve local industrial output.
Ego figere omnia et scio supellectilem
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