So much for the Masters of the Universe. Following the extremely bearish start to the year, Goldman Sachs has already had to ditch five out of six of its "top trades" for 2016. Strong dollar? The US currency has stalled. Rising US inflation hopes? Not now that everyone's stressing about deflation. Tighter "spreads" between Italian and Germany bond yields? Not with the state European banks are in.
The investment bank fudged its withdrawal by noting that these were short-term trades and it still thinks its rationale will turn out correct in the longer run but it just shows that market timing isn't easy, even for a bank whose alumni run half of the world's central banks.
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