Pangaea With Current International Borders – Brilliant Maps

Map originally created by Massimo at MI LABORATORIO DE IDEAS

Pangaea With Current International Borders

October 7, 2015  

The map above is one of my all time favourites. It shows Pangaea, a supercontinent that existed from 300 million to 175 million years ago, with modern international borders.

Needless to say it would make international relations a little bit more complicated. Major changes include:

• The United States now borders a few new countries including Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Cuba.
• Spain now has a land border with Algeria.
• Italy now borders Tunisia.
• Greece borders Libya.
• Brazil borders a whole bunch of new states from Namibia in the south to Liberia in the north.
• India now finds itself in the southern hemisphere, right next to Antarctica.
• You could walk from Australia to Tibet (which is no longer attached to China).
• While China has lost Tibet it has gained a massive amount of new coast line.

Notice anything else that might complicate international politics? Then please, leave a comment in the comment section below.

Update: You can now play around with a fully Interactive Pangaea Map With Modern International Borders here.

https://brilliantmaps.com/pangaea/ 

What’s with #Gold Backwardation? @FTAlphaville’s @IzaKaminska tackles the question

"when regular money rates become negative, however, gold's zero yielding quality is no longer construed as a vice but rather a feature. In such circumstances, holding cash becomes costly while holding gold becomes the opportunity. And it's this feature which triggers not just demand for new sources of gold, but also a backwardation that incentivises those who have previously stashed gold to sell out at a profit."

Read the whole piece here: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2020/08/05/1596631139000/What-s-with-gold-backwardation-/

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.@GoldmanSachs Warns US #Dollar's Role Is at Risk as #Gold Prices Surge - Bloomberg

#Gold's record-breaking rally highlights growing concern over the world economy.

Goldman raised its 12-month forecast for gold to $2300 an ounce from $2000 an ounce previously. That compares with a value of around $1950 currently.

The bank sees U.S. real interest rates continuing to drift lower, boosting gold further.

Read the whole article here: 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/goldman-warns-dollar-s-role-as-world-reserve-currency-is-at-risk

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For Investors Looking for Returns of 7-9%, Private Markets Seem Like The Only Game in Town

"Given the exuberant growth, many observers had predicted the private capital industry would be hit hard in a downturn."

"But perhaps this is merely the end of the beginning of a new era of private capital, rather than the beginning of the end."

…

"Before, investors could kid themselves that they could wait until bond yields approached normality, but normality has now been redefined. Most investors still hanker after returns in the 7-9 per cent range. Private markets are pretty much the only areas where this looks feasible. 

"At the same time, companies are tiring of the burdens and relentless daily scrutiny that goes with being publicly listed. The trend towards businesses remaining private is likely to be accentuated by the crisis. While more companies have been raising money in the bond market, it remains a viable option for big businesses only. Smaller ones are likely to turn to private debt funds in even greater numbers to cope with the downturn."

See Robin Wigglesworth's (@robinwigg) piece, Why private capital will benefit from the crisis, on the @FT:  https://www.ft.com/content/b104940f-bf3b-4090-bcb2-50aef67da564?desktop=true&segmentId=7c8f09b9-9b61-4fbb-9430-9208a9e233c8#myft:notification:daily-email:content

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US #Banks’ Stocks Sink As @FederalReserve Caps Dividends, Forbids Buybacks In #StressTests

Fed said in a release that big banks will be required to suspend share buybacks and cap dividend payments at their current level for the third quarter of this year. 

The Board is taking action to assess banks' conditions more intensively and to require the largest banks to adopt prudent measures to preserve capital in the coming months."

Bank stocks are not happy... 

Wells Fargo and BofA are the worst hit after hours...

Ally Financial and BMO had the lowest common equity tier 1 ratio in the severely adverse scenario:

Discover, Capital One, Barclays, and Amex face the biggest loan losses...

Credit Suisse is the most exposed to losses from Commercial Real Estate...

*  *  *

So what did the results say?

The Fed said in a release that big banks will be required to suspend share buybacks and cap dividend payments at their current level for the third quarter of this year. The regulator also said that it would only allow dividends to be paid based on a formula tied to a bank's recent earnings.

Furthermore, the industry will be subject to ongoing scrutiny: For the first time in the decade-long history of the stress test, banks will have to resubmit their payout plans again later this year.

"While I expect banks will continue to manage their capital actions and liquidity risk prudently, and in support of the real economy, there is material uncertainty about the trajectory for the economic recovery," Fed Vice Chair Randall Quarles said in a statement.

Full release

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released the results of its stress tests for 2020 and additional sensitivity analyses that the Board conducted in light of the coronavirus event.

"The banking system has been a source of strength during this crisis," Vice Chair Randal K. Quarles said, "and the results of our sensitivity analyses show that our banks can remain strong in the face of even the harshest shocks."

In addition to its normal stress test, the Board conducted a sensitivity analysis to assess the resiliency of large banks under three hypothetical recessions, or downside scenarios, which could result from the coronavirus event. The scenarios included a V-shaped recession and recovery; a slower, U-shaped recession and recovery; and a W-shaped, double-dip recession.

Full release From the Fed

See the story on here: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-bank-stocks-sink-fed-caps-dividends-forbids-share-buybacks-stress-tests