Economy

The following are my best economic “guesses” for the coming year, based on the statistical and technical data trends, for the market, interest rates, the dollar, employment and the economy.

The motto “In God We Trust” has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864 and began being printed on paper currency in 1957 but now another lawsuit by a prominent atheist has been filed in an effort to have the motto removed from all U.S. currency.

2016 is looking like the year in which all economic policies fail as they play out in an environment where all the other major economies are also rolling over and the U.S. Fed has just begun a tightening cycle. That makes 2016 a uniquely scary year.

It is the size, stability, and liquidity of a country’s financial markets that are the major underlying factors to determine the strength of a reserve currency and, as such, the U.S. dollar is the world’s most dominant reserve currency, making up about 64% of all official foreign exchange reserves. The USD is so dominant, in fact, that more and more countries around the world are pegging their currencies to the dollar as illustrated in this video.

The uptake & dollar value of Bitcoin has grown rapidly over the past 3 months - almost doubling its value. For 33 indicators that prove the only way is up for Bitcoin, check out our infographic below.

For more than a year now, commodity prices have been under pressure from the strong U.S. dollar and slowing global demand. This has made a huge dent in the balance sheet of many net exporters of resources, in turn weakening their currencies. What most people don’t realize, however, is just how closely some currencies track certain commodities. Below are five world currencies that have been impacted by lower commodity prices.

Some amazing revelations regarding the percentage of children living in poverty in various countries around the world. Shameful!

Today, swimsuit models, hemlines, and even Twitter all have somethingswimsuit 2015 to say about the economy - if we know what to look for - and MarketWatch examined 13 unusual economic indicators, concluding from the evidence that the outlook is mixed.

China has increasingly poured billions of dollars of foreign direct investment capital into Africa..and is now invested in 46 of 54 African countries, mainly with a focus on metals, energy, and infrastructure...Investments in 2015 up until June have totaled $17.8 billion, and are on pace to reach $42 billion by the end of this year. The infographic below will help you visualize China's investment in China.

The yuan will be added to the IMF’s basket of currencies used to value the SDR in October 2016, with a weighting on 10.92%, which effectively anoints the yuan (also called the renminbi) as a major reserve currency. What are the long-term implications of this? Read on.