We've been a Forex author for many years on Zero Hedge and many other sites. Writing is a big part of our job as analysts, and educators. Recently we published a book Splitting Pennies - Understanding Forex to explain this complicated market to investors. We write by purpose - Forex is the largest market in the world and the least understood. Because of this, it's not widely covered in the main stream media (MSM) and when it is, it is often mis-characterized. After 15 years in this business, we don't believe there is any 'conspiracy' hiding the 'truth' about Forex- it's simply a lack of understanding. The guys who really understand Forex are mostly working for banks or hedge funds and making a fortune, and a few, professing at universities.
Although we'd like to see some guest author compensation - the fact that guest authors are allowed to write freely without ANY editing is INVALUABLE in a market such as Forex which is vastly misunderstood. For example a lot of Forex information is coupled with 'conspiracy theories' and 'politics' although it should not be. For example, with events such as 911, often a move in the Forex market will preceed the actual event by several hours. We know that generally speaking, terrorists don't have access to huge amounts of capital or connections on Wall St. - so this is an odd phenomenon that's never properly been explored or discussed. By stating the facts, we aren't making any conclusions, simply that 'someone' must have had foreknowledge, whether it be intelligence services, well connected investors, governments, or who knows. Statistical analysis has shown that it's not coincidence. Anyway, this topic is an important one for Forex but not one that is 'appropriate' for Bloomberg news. Bloomberg is a great example of the MSM because Bloomberg has always been 'business news' - with an international focus. Others such as CNBC are more US focused.
Exhibit 1 - 28 pages
Recently the 28 redacted pages of the 911 report to be released, have potentially significant impacts on markets - not only directly, but how markets function. It is also an important Forex event because potentially, we can see a shift of sentiment away from the US Dollar as a global reserve currency. But more importantly, 911 exposes how 'someone' whoever that group may be, manipulate world events in direct connection to markets and profit. The markets are manipulated - if you think investors have a fair shot in the markets, you are due for a wake up call. Suggested treatment - disconnect your Television and social media and read Zero Hedge for 90 days.
An article was composed by analysts at Fortress Capital which was not published by several MSM sources, so we posted it on Zero Hedge. The article isn't really inflammatory but discusses these topics in objective way, asking questions that some would rather not like to be asked. It was a relief that it could be published in a timely manner before the markets opened.
Exhibit 2 - Pro Russia
We have authored several seemingly pro-Russia articles for ZH and were never encouraged to do so.
First, the mantra of analyst objective integrity is to be pro-fact, not pro- anything. We would say we are pro-fact, not pro-Russia. The only people in the world who are really pro-Russia are average Russians living in Russia. If you talk to Russian intelligentsia, or Russians in America, they are critical of their country and just roll their eyes. Practically though, Putin has done a great job leading Russia into a new market based system - which is not easy if you understand the culture and where they came from. America was founded by commercial interests, it was a business from the beginning. Russians have lived 80 some years under a controlled system, and those who tried to start a business were mostly killed. The mentality is in their genes, it will take many generations for Russia to grow into a real superpower. They need social reforms, business law reforms, regulations, human rights, immigration reform, and a number of other changes, before they can be a serious threat to other major economic powers. But Russia has acheived a lot and they have made good use of their natural resources.
It just so happens that because they are a 'new' economy Russia is an excellent Forex example. Because the Ruble is still controlled by the central bank, although you can exchange in and out of Rubles freely, there are trading rules, and the rate is controlled by the central bank aggressively. There are many interesting ironies about Russia and Forex, such as the largest retail platform in the world is a company from Russia (Meta Quotes).
Exhibit 3 - Bloomberg
During the period of 2007 - 2008 the most objective MSM coverage of the financial crisis was provided by Bloomberg. Brian Sullivan was the best anchor who seemed to really present information as it should be, not as 'marketing.' He seemed sincere with his comments, he would say "I work for you - the viewer - so let me know how I'm doing, give me your feedback!" So we did. The first comment was to tone down his sporty attitude, he was calling the markets like a boxing match, which seemed out of taste at the time. This was peak of the credit crisis. Sure enough next day - he toned down his clown like attitude, dressed in professional suit and very serious! This guy really did his job well, so it seemed. Weeks go on and the Fed was under pressure to do something about market events, and he made a comment about "Shouldn't the government, the Fed, do something about this situation?" We fired away many comments about how the Federal Reserve is not part of the government. It's no more Federal than Federal Express. The Fed was created by an act of Congress, but it is a private bank. The President appoints the chairman, but that's all. There's no other connection to the government. The next time he discussed it on air, he said, "But shouldn't the Fed, whoever owns it or if it's private or whatever, do something?" - several days later - he no longer worked for Bloomberg!
It is unclear what time period Mr. Sullivan would handle for Fox Business, which relies on a dual-anchor format during the day. A Fox spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.A Bloomberg spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that Mr. Sullivan, who joined the network in 1997, had resigned. He most recently hosted the 3 to 5 p.m. show “Final Word.”In an interview at Bloomberg’s offices last August, Mr. Sullivan, an avid race car driver on the weekends, said he did not spend much time thinking about Fox. “If I sit there worrying about my competitor, it’s called driving-in-your-mirrors racing,” he said.Mr. Sullivan said that anchors like him have to work harder to stand out amid the increasingly commoditized landscape of business news. “If you just cover earnings, numbers, statistics, you can get all that on the Internet,” he said. “The way to differentiate yourself is to tell the smartest story and get the best guests.”
Coincidence, maybe. But a strange one, especially during a time when people started to question the Fed.
But let's take a step back and understand what is Bloomberg. The Bloomberg Terminal is a trading appliance (well, it used to be a physical appliance and now it's an application). Bloomberg News is a 'value add' service provided to Bloomberg customers, so they don't have to use a 3rd party for general market news. Bloomberg more importantly streams economic data and other market news over the terminal, as does Dow Jones, Reuters, and other news services. Bloomberg was always more objective than traditional news for this reason. But like with anything, over the years, they became biased and poorly managed just like the media they replaced such as CNBC. That's their perspective - they sell terminals, market data. The Bloomberg Terminal has almost no competition in many markets, especially OTC derivatives such as CDS, or if you want to trade Forex with a central bank, you need the Bloomberg Terminal.
Zero Hedge has been, for recent years, one of the only online platforms for objective Forex discussion. This situation with the rogue author is sad, but it just elaborates what a sham Bloomberg is, and encourages ZH to work closer with Guest authors and other financial professionals who still have a need for a platform such as ZH. It shows how Bloomberg has declined and lost complete control over its editorial staff.
This is all explained in our book Splitting Pennies - Understanding Forex. Open a Forex account (if you are a non-US citizen) and get a free robotic strategy with every purchase of the book.
