Investment briefing
Ricochet
Cast your minds back to 2014, when the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, burdened by a chronic budget deficit, spooked the US municipal bond market by passing legislation to restructure some of its enormous $73bn debt pile. US Municipal Bond ETFs reeled and wider markets were spooked, the country’s debt downgraded to ‘junk’ status.
Investment briefing
Katana & Wakizashi
Once again, the price of bitcoin is on the tear, encouraged by the launch of SEC-registered exchange traded funds, led by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. That, a cap on interest rate rises (making risk assets more attractive versus plain old cash) , the ubiquitous ‘halving’ event (which cuts the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions in half, artificially reducing new supply at roughly four-year intervals) and rumours of potential Russian sanctions dodging, have propelled the cryptocurrency to new highs.
Investment briefing
The approval of vaccines to counter the misery of COVID-19 has driven equity markets higher into the New Year as a hint of, whisper it, ‘normality’ can be glimpsed on the horizon.