Wednesday, 14 January 2026 10:55

The bow-tie effect

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: If the hand-wringing, cravat and bow-tie wearing commentariat of a left-leaning persuasion had any influence on global markets, we'd be in a full-blown crash by now, what with the pessimistic wailing about the recent political 'reshuffle' in Venezuela - orchestrated by the US Administration Arm and executed, quite efficiently, by the US Guns & Choppers Division.

The Hound offers no opinion on whether or not this should have happened, but merely observes that, despite it raining lefty tears of sorrow, the sky did not in fact fall because a South American dictator was deposed without ceremony.

Grain markets rose, Asian equities surged, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all up.

While there was some brief "haven-related hedging activity" boosting gold, overall risk appetite reportedly remains intact.

Perhaps not surprisingly, oil company stocks were among the upside leaders.

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