Polemic's Pains

  This blog is moving. After some thought, I am shifting future writing over to Substack, which you can find here: https://polemicpaine.subs...

Market commentary has always organised itself into clubs. Not formally, of course, but socially and reputationally, with all the signalling ...

  This weekend's headlines announce that the UK government is preparing the country for war, which is the sort of sentence that once wou...

  Markets have always possessed a peculiar talent for flattery, though the form of that flattery evolves with each cycle and the present era...

I am fast adopting a bunker mentality. I know that listening to the opinions of others builds a sample set on which to base one's own op...

My last post was on Turkey and oil. Oil, only briefly to say it was turning and Turkey in a great long verbose way to say it was turning. ...

My Tabloid-o-meter shot into the red this week on two matters - Oil and Turkey. I have had very successful runs in both over the last two ye...

In response to the Tony Barber piece in the FT " The EU is no protectionist racket " - The EU’s FTAs are quite narrow and incl...

I am fast wondering if someone has perfected the ultimate 'hunt and destroy’ algo trading weapon. The development of programs that can ...

First a recap - 10 days ago - My best case is that no narrative can be ignored and all have their strengths.  But instead of them each...

Well. Well Well. Or ‘three holes in the ground”, as my uncle used to say. That was a day. The last two weeks have so far seen Meltdown...

Following swiftly on from the last post's  synopsis of the changing narratives of last week , in the famous words of a UK TV sports quiz...

It’s February and I have been using Twitter more than the blog as, in effect, most of my thoughts are pretty simple and don’t need expoundi...

If I was selling a trade idea I would be now composing lots of arguments as to why I am getting really nervous about the markets. But I can’...