Paul's Market Insights
Paul's Market Insights is our bi-weekly communique to provide clients with current insights on financial markets.
Written by Paul Siluch
December 13th, 2024
"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen."
-Vladimir Lenin
It has been a very full couple of weeks in the world:
- After 53 years in power, the Assad dynasty in Syria fell, toppled by rebel forces with support from Turkey. The geopolitical impacts are not known yet, but oil prices rose, as they always do when something explodes in the Middle East. Oil is not a large export for Syria so any ripples in the energy markets are likely to be short-lived. Syria’s main exports are olive oil and nuts, so a regime change won’t affect global trade much at all. However, Russia and Iran stand to lose influence in the region while Turkey gains.
- • The president of South Korea attempted martial law but was stopped by the Korean legislature – a victory for this sometimes-shaky democracy.
- • U.S. employment worsened.
- • Canada cut interest rates by 0.5%, which is well below U.S. rates right now. As a result, the Canadian dollar hit its lowest point against the US dollar since the 2020 pandemic.
Markets continued their uphill march, despite the news.
