Who Thought This Was OK?

The Rush To Pull Gold Out Of The US Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance It was reported yesterday that the Netherlands just shifted approximately 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from New York and Ottawa to London, explicitly citing “increasing geopolitical unrest” and the need to prepare for severe crises. The Dutch central bank says gold held in London can be accessed and traded more quickly during an emergency than gold stored in New York or Canada. That is some wonderfully sanitized central-bank language to deliver a message that seems to me to be “confidence...

85% Of Babies In 2026 Will Be Born In Asia And Africa In 2026, 85% of babies worldwide will be born in just two continents: Asia and Africa. Where someone is born can shape everything from access to education and healthcare to long-term economic opportunity. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, shows how global births are distributed across continents, based on population projections from the United Nations. Asia Accounts for Nearly Half of Global Births Asia is expected to see about 64.9 million births in 2026, accounting for roughly 49% of all births worldwide....

Ugly, Tailing 30Y Auction Sees Foreign Demand Tumble, Dealer "Backtop" Bid Jump After yesterday's stellar 10Y auction, which saw the 5th highest Indirect take down on record, today's reopening of $22BN in 30Y paper (via Cusip UU0) was a mirror image: ugly, poor foreign demand, and tailing. Starting at the top, the auction priced at a high yield of 5.02%, down fractionally from 5.046% last month (which was the first 5% coupon auction in history). And just like last month, today's auction also tailed the When Issued 5.008% by 1.2bps; this...