On The Performance of Exchange-Listed Foreign Bank Stocks YTD

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Most of the foreign bank stocks were in the red around this time last year. However it is a better story this year with most of them up at least so far. The top performers are from Argentina which is permanent basket case of a mismanaged economy. Unlike 2022, Brazilian banks have not shot up high though they are in the positive. Notable among the banks down YTD are British banks excluding HSBC and Bancolombia of Colombia.

The following table shows the year-to-date returns of foreign bank stocks:

Note: The returns noted above are excluding dividends

Source: BNY Mellon

It remains to be seen if these banks would add further gains thru the reminder of this year.

Disclosure: Long BCH, CIB, ITUB, BBD, BBVA and SAN

The Chemistry of the Coronation Crowns: Infographic

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The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom housed in the Tower of London are fascinating to look at. The Coronation Crowns in the collection are some of the wonderful crowns in the world. While visiting the Tower of London one does not feel like enough time was spent to admire the jewels due to the moving conveyor belt system. With that said, I came the below infographic that shows the amazing amount of precious stones present in three of the imperial crowns:

Click to enlarge

Source: Compound Interest

It would be an interesting task to calculate how much it would cost to build one of these crowns taking into account the cost of all the stones and other materials involved.

Submarine Cable Map of the World

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Have you ever wondered how many under sea cable lines are there in the world? How does communication tools such as the internet, phone systems work great across most of the countries? I came across a wonderful site that shows in realtime the submarine cable networks in the world. For instance, the Greenland Connect network connects Greenland to Iceland. Similarly you check out the lines that connect any country to another by clicking on the link below.

Click to enlarge

Source: SubmarineCableMap.com

On the Use of Robots in Manufacturing by Country

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The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) publishes a report each year on the use of robots in manufacturing in countries around the world. According to the latest date, Korea is the top country for industrial robots use with about 1,000 per 10,000 workers in manufacturing industry. Singapore came in at second followed by Japan and Germany as shown in the chart below:

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Source: IFR report via China using industrial robots at 12x US rate, Asia Times

China’s usage rate is 322 robots while the US is lower at 274 robots per 10,000 workers.

In terms of robot adoption, Asia leads the world. The US rate is again lower then other peer countries like Germany which is a high-wage country.

Source: IFR report via China using industrial robots at 12x US rate, Asia Times

Life Expectancy At 65 For Select OECD Countries: Chart

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The life expectancy at 65 is important because how long people people live after retirement. According to the latest OECD data, people in Japan live the longest at age 65 as shown in the chart below. Other countries with high life expectancy at 65 are Korea, Spain, France and Switzerland.

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Note: The y-axis shows the life expectancy at 65.

Source: OECD via 30-year chart is pointer to retirement outcomes, Graham Hand, First Links

For Australia, the life expectancy at 65 for men is 20.3 years and for Women it is 23.0 years.