Gabriel Sterne

IMF Disgrace: Senegal Peter Doyle, American Economist, ex IMF Senior Staff When in Fall 2024, Ndongo Samba Sylla and I flagged the absurdity—given the longst

IMF Disgrace: Senegal

My assessment and recommendations.

www.financialafrik.com/en/2025/10/2...

more than a whiff of self-censorship in markets at the moment. No-one wants to call BS on, ya know, everything, for fear of angering the president

on.ft.com/4pRyTHp

Bessent says US in talks with Argentina over $20bn swap line Proposed measure comes as Trump administration seeks to support Javier Milei’s libertarian government

Trump's Argentine bail out could set up biggest sovereign story of the decade. If Argentina defaults despite the bail out, Trump will want seniority, but IMF cant give it. You can imagine how this descends into a colossal row between IMF and its biggest shareholder www.ft.com/content/4127...

So true. Rented a car this summer and drove 100 miles having been given wrong key. It was in his pocket so car started😡

EM Asia now clearly the most vulnerable in my latest global tariff rankings.

Bank of England: What will the new banknotes look like? Young people are among those suggesting new themes for the biggest change to banknotes in 50 years.

A silver cigarette box, with Eddie George's hand offering them to Bank of England youngsters (those selected for one of his "tea with the Deputy Governor" office hours)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Such a dis

The Which? Shoddies 2025 - Which? Find out which products and services we think deserve the spotlight for all the wrong reasons

Im outing myself as a "Which?" lover www.which.co.uk/news/article...

OK I admit it, nobody is perfect, I cant write research as quickly as Trump can write letters

Losing a 287 day Duolingo streak turned out to be surprisingly liberating. The tinge of sadness far outweighed by the satisfaction of sticking 2 fingers up at a nauseatingly nagging algorithm

Trump caves in to pressure to make chart scales more suitable for non-Chinese economies

My own bit of paradise after London Marathon. Blew up in last 5k but still got PB of 3.03.

Amazing support so much appreciated. Love the way Brits become the most friendly folk in world to those with marathon medal

A 19pt swing in net approval since inauguration... even before Main St endures tariff impact. When are the mid-terms? When will he start to lose his grip on US inc. and Republican politicians?

www.natesilver.net/p/trump-appr...

Good news for Japan, Korea, Germany. Its not just about how much the US is tariffing you, but also how much the US is tariffing your competitors...
For now thats mainly an issue of how much you compete with China in US markets, but that could change faster than you can say the word "liberation"

Trump and Lula, brothers in self-defeating credibility destruction.
"BCB will be forced to address market backlash following perception that appointments and decisions represent dovish turn from central bank, causing the BCB to convince public otherwise." @fcamargo.bsky.social (2024)

Interesting IMF GFSR piece on financial spillovers from EMs having increased since GFC, though I wonder how much of that is down to a China story that is based on what happened a few years ago
www.imf.org/~/media/Webs...

Dollar weakens after Trump attacks on Fed Gold price climbs while Swiss franc reaches 10-year high

Political attacks like this typically mean policy needs to tighten to offset credibility loss…

Lula’s foolish interventions in Brazil the most glaring example

www.ft.com/content/1cd3...

Non-China Asia is a big relative* winner at this stage of the tariff war season, having had a terrible start on liberation day. Their own-tariff rates have fallen dramatically relative to their competitors in US import markets (China's pain, others gain)

*Pretty much everyone is an absolute loser

In the Other Gaza, Trump’s War on Waste Baffles Mozambique The White House claimed U.S. aid workers shipped 3.3 billion condoms to Hamas. They didn’t.

You couldn't make it up. You just couldn't.

Trump's rant against US sending condoms to Hamas was based on the fact that US was sending condoms to Gaza...
... that's Gaza Mozambique, which suffers from the highest AIDs in Mozambique

www.wsj.com/world/africa...?

I needed this. Quality #content.

Makes Liz Truss look like a winner

I predict H2 2026 will see a boom in US citizens turning up in Canada, Europe, Asia with empty suitcases and returning with full ones....

...Actually suitcases will be much cheaper over here too now I think about it.

Do you remember the days when you used to go to New York to buy consumer electronics?

Beyond obscure. Love it…. When is the book coming out!

Proposed U.S. shipping rules could disrupt trade and ports, industry warns - From April 17 | Forexlive Steep fees—up to US$1.5 million per port call—on vessels made in China or owned by carriers with such ships

Supply chain disrupters www.forexlive.com/news/propose...

How popular is Donald Trump? Silver Bulletin approval ratings for President Trump — and all presidents since Truman.

Trump net popularity has moved down 12 ppts since late Jan... big move in last few days. I wonder at what point Congressional support starts to ebb www.natesilver.net/p/trump-appr...

Sports shoes’ supply chain is pain point in Trump’s tariff war Nike, Adidas and Puma shifted production to Vietnam for its cheap labour but will now be hit by 46% levy

Boston announces it’s to become the first all barefoot marathon as a Americans can no longer afford running shoes on.ft.com/3R3WoNq

Sports shoes’ supply chain is pain point in Trump’s tariff war Nike, Adidas and Puma shifted production to Vietnam for its cheap labour but will now be hit by 46% levy

Never mind fentanyl. Trump is going to have to build a wall between Canada and US to stop the smuggling of sports

on.ft.com/3R3WoNq

Indeed. enjoy!

Muting the word Trump is really extreme… I’d suggest just placing a 40% tariff on that word