ECONOMICS

Authored by Mike Maharrey via Money Metals Exchange,

Nigeria is bringing its gold reserves home to keep it safe.

According to a report by The Star, Nigerian officials decided to repatriate the country’s gold in April “to mitigate risks associated with the weakening U.S. economy.”

Nigeria holds about 21 tons of gold in its reserves.

Economist Fatima Abubakar called the gold repatriation plan “a strategic decision,” and that the country was taking (more…)

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Following the European elections, the French credit default swap has soared to a post-2020 record of 39 points. Many commentators blame the rise of the National Front for market turmoil, which has sent all euro area spreads higher. However, none of this would have happened if France’s debt was low, finances were strong, and the euro area economies enjoyed healthy economic (more…)

With 'hard' data collapsing in the last month, 'soft' survey data from ISM and S&P Global this morning was 'mixed' as usual:

• S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI rose from 51.3 in May to 51.6 for the final June print (down very modestly from the 51.7 flash print).

• ISM US Manufacturing PMI dropped from 48.7 to 48.5 in June (well below the 49.1 expected)

So WTF…

Source: Bloomberg

Need more confusion…

S&P Global noted that higher supplier charges were signaled in June. Alongside rising labor costs, this resulted in a further marked increase in input prices. But (more…)