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Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries
- adrr 9mo agoWhat happens when USD stops becoming the the reserve currency for the world? And who takes its place?
- petcat 9mo agoThat would never happen until the US Navy ceases to be effective globally.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- deadbabe 9mo ago[flagged]
- sonotathrowaway 9mo agoYou mean like how the Houthi’s unilaterally decided to shut down Red Sea shipping and the US Navy is still powerless to restore it?
- petcat 9mo agoThat's regional politics. Nothing to do with the superiority of one navy over another
- estearum 9mo agoWhat? The Houthis shutting down a major global shipping route and the US openly giving up on restoring it is not "regional politics."
- Mordisquitos 9mo agoThe dollar being the reserve currency is international finance. Nothing to do with the superiority of one navy over another.
- CamperBob2 9mo agoNavies appear to be obsolete (edit: I'll exempt ballistic missile subs from this statement, though.) You don't even need a navy of your own to sink another country's navy these days. When $100M in armaments can take out a $10000M carrier, it's time to rethink things.
- epistasis 9mo agoWhat is the theory of how the US Navy keeps the dollar the reserve currency, when the US has made itself a pariah state? What mechanism? Would the US Navy be doing piracy and demand protection money in dollars? Piracy payoffs would be a far far lower demand for dollars than there currently is and, and also greatly reduce all other trade with the US, further reducing demand for US dollars. Really curious what your reasoning is here.
- jimnotgym 9mo agoI think it works as a statement right up until you start an actual war, then the threat is gone. No point worrying US will invade if you don't support it economically, if it already invaded
- mythical_39 9mo agoI saw an interesting article about plumbing problems on one of our aircraft carriers. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/17/nx-s1-5680167/major-plumbing-headache-haunts-13-billion-u-s-carrier-off-the-coast-of-venezuela https://www.npr.org/2026/01/17/nx-s1-5680167/major-plumbing-...
- actionfromafar 9mo agoThe argument made like that is an original argument bent backwards. The argument was that the US Navy guaranteed open shipping lanes and kept Pax Americana. Now we get closed shipping lanes and Bellum Americanum.
- jansper39 9mo agoIf the US pisses enough countries off with this Greenland stuff that they shut down US bases around the world, that substantially curtails the US Navy's ability to be effective globally.
- sekai 9mo ago> That would never happen until the US Navy ceases to be effective globally. US Navy would have have no parking spots left in Europe if they try to annex Greenland.
- basilgohar 9mo agoThe US starts more wars until its eventual complete collapse. See The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. We're operating out of a playbook for imperial destruction word for word.
- drstewart 9mo ago"History buffs" that literally only know the Roman Empire and Hitler should probably try expand their purview.
- saubeidl 9mo agoI think Qing dynasty China might be a better fit.
- woooooo 9mo agoQing suffered a century of unequal treaties before they fell, they were the bullied and not the bully. (They were also medieval and isolationist which further hurts the comparison IMO).
- cratermoon 9mo agoFrance and most of the European imperialists before the first world war.
- shermantanktop 9mo agoThat’s the manly history that appeals to men! Men of masculinity.
- CamperBob2 9mo agoWhat are some better parallels? Seriously, no snark, please throw out some suggestions for reading. I can't think of any other country that has done this to itself.
- mitthrowaway2 9mo ago
- WarmWash 9mo agoThe dollar sucks but everything else is worse.
- vdupras 9mo agoHey, it's nice that you came in signed up to HN to cheer for the USD. I think it's going to be needed to change the overall sentiment.
- pixelpoet 9mo agoYep, nothing signals stability and genuine sentiment like a bunch of brand new accounts swooping in and touting the strength of the dollar. HN seems totally fine with this behaviour too, also super reassuring.
- woooooo 9mo agoHN trusts the community by giving us green text for the new accounts.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- WarmWash 9mo agoI would say the same on my old accounts too. I rotate accounts annually (it is january). I'm not anyone note worthy or famous, this account and my others are just as generic as any other HN commoner.
- LunaSea 9mo agoThe USD dollar sank -10% this last year versus the euro.
- drstewart 9mo agoThe Euro sank -10% this last year versus the Zambian Kwacha
- jimnotgym 9mo agoMy guess would be EUR takes its place, gold will also be used more. I guess what happens is USD gets much weaker and US buying power goes down. Maybe destroying the USD will eventually cause the boost to domestic manufacturing that Trump wanted, since foreign goods will be out of reach. Cut down the forest to kill a squirrel. I'm no expert though
- throwway120385 9mo agoThere will never be a boost to domestic manufacturing without some kind of investment. The booms of the 1950's and 1960's were a result of massive government spending in the 1930's and 1940's building a bunch of capacity and researching novel manufacturing techniques and building new tools. If we don't have the morale for that we will simply stop having as many things.
- dpc050505 9mo agoIt also included a bunch of women joining the workforce, an enormous baby-boom and brown people acquiring the freedom and prosperity necessary to become consumers. Demographics are always the fundamental driver of economic movements.
- shermantanktop 9mo agoHistorically, gold’s day in the sun is always juuust around the corner, right after the disastrous collapse that never quite arrives. Now that we really do have a destructive realignment underway, maybe gold will actually be useful again. I doubt it, but I’m no currency expert.
- jimnotgym 9mo agoIt seems to be in demand. It is getting really expensive!
- acdha 9mo agoDomestic manufacturing isn’t coming back without a thoughtful investment program. A lot of older people still think of China like in the 1980s where it was mostly low-wage, low-quality products but that’s nothing like true now and they have entire clusters of world-class product pipelines with long supply chains which would take a long time to bring back in stages. The other problem seems even bigger: we don’t have many high-skill workers available, but our wages are high enough that anyone bringing manufacturing back is going to try to automate it as much as possible. That seems like a real bind for the Republicans’ isolationist strategy: exports will be down due to a trade war and a difficult price/value ratio in the areas other countries currently dominate, and if we’re heading into a more automated economy we’re going to have a growing number of people who won’t be able to afford to buy much. This seems like a vicious self-inflicted cycle if it gets rolling.
- diggyhole 9mo ago[flagged]
- fisherjeff 9mo agoAs much as it pains me to say it, this is a plausible answer in 2026
- neilwilson 9mo agoWe finally realise there is no such thing as a “reserve currency” in the floating exchange rate era and that the concept is a long dead hangover from fixed exchange rates. And that’s definitely going to upset the gold bugs. (In reality lots of things are held in reserve) USD is a routing currency that is used because it is cheaper than the mesh alternative. When it stops being cheaper whoever is then cheapest will get the routing transactions.
- Archelaos 9mo agoThe share of the USD as a reserve currency has already been slowly declining over the last decade, although it is all but dramatic. The reduction is not in favour of another particular currency. Instead, the proportion of minor currencies is increasing. Here is a diagram for the years 2016 to 2023: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/232562/umfrage/verteilung-der-weltweiten-waehrungsreserven/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/232562/umfrag...
- shimman 9mo agoLook up something called "dedollarization," it's been talked about in academic circles for quite some time and now more mainstream institutions are discussing it more too.
- KPGv2 9mo agoYes, in my undergrad government policy classes twenty years ago, we were talking about a "basket of currencies" that would replace the USD as the global reserve.
- ProllyInfamous 9mo agoIMF has this, intra-countries, with their SDR ("Special Drawing Rights"). China was added in the 2010s, and USD has slowly been losing its percentage of the SDR's overall-makeup. [•] <https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_drawing_rights https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_drawing_rights> SDR's are a type of Keynes' "Bancor" concept, but only transactable between countries. Citizens may resort to the commoner's bancor, e.g. bitcoin (but also gold, silver &c). [•] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bancor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bancor
- NoboruWataya 9mo agoI doubt it would be replaced by a single global reserve currency. More likely there would be a handful of currencies that perform a similar role (USD, EUR, CNY, maybe some others) and which you primarily use depends on whose sphere of influence you are in.
- Ekaros 9mo agoProbably some type of balanced trade. Holding each trade partners currency and balancing it at times. Or even between multiple holders and currency pairs. If there is need you can now build very complicated systems as everything is digital anyway. Maybe stable coins would be finally useful. Each currency has own stable coin and then they are automatically traded in massive market... /s
- tinfoilhatter 9mo agoThe petrodollar (a product of Kissinger) has been in collapse since Saudi Arabia began divesting from it. We've been printing pretend money for quite some time, and supressing the value of precious metals (which is why you're now seeing silver bullion sell for $100+ an ounce). Copper is also selling out now. These precious metals are extremely valuable because they're used to manufacture all of the technology consumers and nation states rely on daily. We're going to see a regression towards mercantilism and commodity hoarding. Most likely fiat will be abandoned in favor of crypto as we enter a new era of hyperinflation. Buckle up - 2026 is going to be a wild ride.
- tinfoilhatter 9mo agoGotta love HN - getting downvoted with no explanation, but most likely because the truth is uncomfortable and people would rather press the downvote button than face facts.
- actionfromafar 9mo agoI think you should rather assume that when you mention crypto taking over fiat, it's just too outlandish to even comment.
- tinfoilhatter 9mo agoExcept governments around the world have been talking about a digital dollar / digital currencies for years now. I'm not sure exactly what is so outlandish about it. The fiat system is collapsing, and the signs are quite plain to see. Can't print fake money forever...
- actionfromafar 9mo agoUsually, what they mean is fiat tokens, minted much like paper currency.
- 9mo ago
- traceroute66 9mo agoThe USD has already been in decline as a reserve currency. The only thing that is happening is the decline is accelerating. It is not necessarily a question of "takes its place", but more about being more serious about diversification. Or to paraphrase the old IBM saying "nobody got fired for buying USD" is no longer the case. In terms of options you have JPY, EUR and CNY as the big-three and maybe tag AUD on top.
- itake 9mo agoWhy AUD and not SGD? I guess AUD has higher GDP (but much lower GDP per capita and worse forex rate to the us dollar)
- traceroute66 9mo ago> Why AUD and not SGD? Fair question. And in some circles people would substitute AUD for CHF, and SGD is essentially in the same position as CHF (small, stable, well-connected country). But AUD mostly because Australia is commodity-rich and so AUD has a naturally high exposure to international trade especially in Asia-Pacific region. Its a bit like CAD but the problem with CAD is its neighbour. ;)
- axus 9mo agoBitcoins, probably
- mywittyname 9mo agoTo the rest of the world - Nothing. Trade works just fine without a reserve currency. For the USA - massive inflation. All of those dollars are coming back home, which will weaken the dollar. Plus, there's the second-order effects from a president taking control of the fed by trumping up charges on its members. So high inflation + low/zero/negative interest rates.
- corimaith 9mo ago>And who takes its place? Anybody who can (EU, Yuan) does not want to. Primairly because as export based economies, they want a weak currency in relation to a strong reserve (dollar) so they can make their goods more competitive, and also because surplus naturally appreciates a currency without central bank intervention via buying US treasuries to offset the appreciation. And for China, they're not going to accept the liberalized capital controls neede for it either. So the answer is if the US dollars fail it would be global economic collapse and then chaos, but contrary to the rhetoric the rest of the world's economic systems are too uniquely vested in the USD to see it fail. As for gold, well we come to the same problem as noted above but worse, and in that situation the US actually holds the highest gold reserves so they still benefit the most out of it.
- jlarocco 9mo agoI wonder if there needs to be a single reserve currency any more. In the past it made things easier for everybody to use the same currency, but is that still the case with modern electronic transactions? Maybe it splinters into Euro, BRICS, and USD?
- kzrdude 9mo agoIt's easier if contracts run on the same currency I think, your suppliers price in USD, you sell your products in USD, it's easier for a whole supply chain that way. I can imagine that fracturing or switching to Euro for things like manufacturing and semiconductors.
- david-gpu 9mo agoA sensible response, indeed. Investing is about finding the right balance of risk vs reward. When a country becomes less reliable, it becomes a less attractive investment, until the interest they pay rises enough to compensate for the additional risk. Edit: Yes, I am being sarcastic.
- seydor 9mo agoWhen facing war you have more important things to think about, including confiscation and freezing of assets
- notyourwork 9mo agoBoth can be true. Start with soft preemptive planning for both reasons.
- bowmessage 9mo ago> $100 million Is that a lot? Seems relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps a warning of larger moves to come.
- brookst 9mo agoIt’s the symbolism more than direct financial impact. You get 100 moves like this and it starts to become real money.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- nonethewiser 9mo agoIt's not a symbolic move by the pension fund. It's all of the fund's US treasuries.
- marcusverus 9mo ago100 moves of this size (~$10B) would make up 0.1% of foreign-held US treasuries (~$8.5T).
- mmkos 9mo agoI'd say each move like this increases the likelihood of the next one happening, and typically, nobody wants to be the last one holding the bag.
- rhubarbtree 9mo agoAnd the big European nations own ~ 23% of US debt. This is not a one-sided contest. Oddly, it does feel like trump is what europe needed to wake up from its slumber. With new AI / startup funding, the rebuild of their military, and opening up to china this could be the making of the EU into a true superpower. About time. Edit: percentage down from 30% clarify debt
- koolba 9mo agoIt’s hard to put an exact number but it’s on the order of $500-1000 billion daily. So a drop in the bucket, but we’ll have to see if it’s a domino.
- seydor 9mo agoLet's see how Norway will react
- I_am_tiberius 9mo ago+1
- exabrial 9mo agoThe US keeps voting to raise its debt cieling. Theres not end in sight to endless taxation by both parties. Nobody is reducing spending and delivery continues to go down.
- toomuchtodo 9mo agoCongress passed a tax cut last year for the wealthiest as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill (“OBBB”) that increases the debt by $1T-$4T over ten years. What taxation by both parties? The US pays $800B/year to service debt. It pays $800B-$1T/year for the military. What would you like cut that is discretionary? There appears to be no appetite to raise taxes on the wealthy, pay down debt, and reduce military spending. So US credit card go brrr. We’ll hit a debt spiral eventually. https://usafacts.org/government-spending/ https://usafacts.org/government-spending/
- Filligree 9mo agoThe deficit reliably starts to come down whenever a Democrat leadership is in place. It then jumps back up under the Republicans.
- toomuchtodo 9mo agoWell, the unsophisticated and low education keep voting for Republicans, so what do? If you’re an individual, if you can, the best you can do is be prepared to get out and not have exposure to the US financially or from a tax perspective. Otherwise you’re stuck going over the cliff economically with the lemmings due to an uneducated, unsophisticated, vibe driven electorate and a suboptimal political and governance system lacking sufficient checks and balances to prevent this outcome. Maybe we’re lucky and adults come back into power, but hope alone is not a strategy. No one is coming to save you, prepare accordingly. I have prepared accordingly to decouple from the US entirely as a citizen, if necessary. It’s regrettable and I have no other solution for those inquiring. You can’t control the winds, but you can adjust your sails. My genuine condolences and sympathies if one cannot escape the US either via income, wealth, or some form of visa (lineage, family, work, etc). (derived from first principles)
- fabian2k 9mo ago> "The decision is rooted in the poor U.S. government finances, which make us think that we need to make an effort to find an alternative way of conducting our liquidity and risk management," Investment Director Anders Schelde said in a written statement. Not a political decision. Still a bad sign for the US, but not really unexpected.
- JumpinJack_Cash 9mo agoThis divestment is so little and with so little aim. The whole situation is been caused by a single guy and 400 enablers, whereas the US is a 400 million people country. The correct form of reaction is a punch in the face during a bilateral meeting, Zelensky came close to doing it but unfortunately he resisted his impulse , that's where the epicenter of all newly generated global problems in the last 10 years lies, in that octogenarian brian of his.
- 4gotunameagain 9mo agoThe americans that support Trump are many more than 400. Also, them having elected Trump TWICE, why would they ever be trusted ? Also when the alternatives are people like.. Hilary Clinton ?
- lostlogin 9mo ago> when the alternatives are people like.. Hilary Clinton ? Would she have been worse than this? And the US had a better choice the second time.
- jeltz 9mo agoNo, I do not even think people like DeSantis or Ted Cruz would have been worse. Trump was one of the worst possible candidates the US voters could pick.
- lostlogin 9mo agoAnd you don’t just have to pick from the red team. But as you say, was there a worse option? It’s hard to find it.
- senderista 9mo agoI think it's safe to say that none of the other potential GOP candidates would have threatened to invade a NATO ally.
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- softwaredoug 9mo agoWhen I actually look at the data, a lot of US deficit growth came from several specific shocks, with inconsistent years of recovery. - 9/11 - Iraq War - Covid The US did recover a bit deficit-wise in Obama years, but have not reset the fiscal picture from Covid. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD
- epistasis 9mo agoWhat does debt pressure have to do with this? That is an unconnected topic, and not a threat to treasuries.
- orwin 9mo agoThe plunge around 2001 wasn't caused by 9/11, and was orchestrated a bit before. Since Clinton managed to cut a lot of spending (both due to his governance and global economics) and reduce some tax avoidance schemes, the US budget had a surplus, so the Bush admin implemented a lot of tax cuts. 9/11 and the following wars didn't had any positive impact, but without the Bush tax cuts, the US budget would still have a surplus in 2003 before the Iraq war
- qgin 9mo agoSo much of the way the United States works is having a nearly limitless source of borrowing at low rates in the form of selling treasury bonds. The further we get away from that being true, the more precarious things become.
- CamperBob2 9mo agoWe're under active, malicious attack by 1/3 of our own eligible voters. Not clear how this will play out, as I can't think of any historical parallels.
- ch4s3 9mo agoIt’s a lot like the rise and presidency of Andrew Jackson.
- ninth_ant 9mo agoIt’s over 50% and there are plenty of plainly obvious parallels both historical and contemporary.
- epistasis 9mo agoFar far below 50%. The media tricked some people into supporting Trump by perpetuating his obvious lies unchallenged, but now that people see what Trump is doing he is underwater on all issues. Most other contemporary and historical parallels of authoritarians show far higher popularity of the authoritarian. Trump is nowhere close. The biggest risk to the US is that the media is completely compromised, as are leadership at many institutions. Even in Silicon Valley, the loudest and most vocal leaders are self-destructively supporting this madness that will destroy the US's wealth, and their future wealth gains too.
- CamperBob2 9mo agoThe media tricked some people into supporting Trump You could almost make this case in 2016, but anyone who fell for Trump in 2024 will just fall for the next con man to come along. At some point we have to take responsibility for our own choices and stop blaming the media. The truth about Trump was out there, and it was not hard to find. Added here due to rate-limiting: 2024 was right after voters had seen Biden at that debate, while all the "responsible" people insisted he was sharp and smart. It really was more unique than its given credit for. Both candidates were a disgrace to the parties who propped them up. However, nothing Biden said was any worse than what Trump said about immigrants eating peoples' pet dogs and cats. At the Biden/Trump debate, the choice was between malevolent, incoherent senility and plain old garden-variety senility, and the voters choose poorly. At the actual election, there were even fewer excuses for voting for Trump, as Biden was no longer in play.
- afavour 9mo agoIt's symbolism. But it's important symbolism. Far more notable, I think, is Macron saying this morning that Europe needs more investment from China. Canada signing a deal with China to allow their cars to be sold in the country. It's all a sliding slope until it reaches a breaking point and falls off like a cliff. EDIT: to quote the Canadian PN earlier today: “American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, a stable financial system... this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as a weapon. Tariffs as leverage ..."
- tomaskafka 9mo agoThat sounds like a rhetoric for better negotiating power against Trump. Chinese are our adversaries (EDIT: enemies, they actually bankroll Russian invasion and supply weapons) and I hope president of France understands that.
- koe123 9mo agoGenuinely: why? I feel like they were our geopolitical adversary by proxy cause of USA, but is that still true?
- afavour 9mo ago> That sounds like a rhetoric for better negotiating power against Trump. In the Canadian example at least the deal is signed. It's not just words. > Chinese are our adversaries Increasingly the US is a European adversary. They are literally threatening to invade the territory of a European country! China isn't doing that. Very easy to dismiss it as the rantings of a madman but no-one is holding him back. People didn't take the tariff bluster seriously and then it became very real.
- foobarian 9mo agoI really don't get the Greenland thing. Is there some 4D chess reason for it? The US already has military bases there and could probably have as many more as they wanted if they just asked nicely. So the whole security thing is a pretext
- dudeinjapan 9mo agoOK you asked for it Denmark. I'm selling all my legos.
- jacquesm 9mo ago[flagged]
- GuinansEyebrows 9mo agohttps://archive.is/iU6PQ https://archive.is/iU6PQ
- csantini 9mo agoSo much American exceptionalism is just the Dollar exceptionalism. Without the G7 piling up dollars, there is no American exceptionalism.
- csantini 9mo agoAt some point the US will lose the Dollar, and it will turn out that US productivity is just like everyone else's.
- hwhehwhehegwggw 9mo agoWhat do you mean? All the best companies the world have seen recently is in US though. Google, Apple, Nvidia to name a few. What am I missing in your argument?
- snapcaster 9mo agoThey're implying that the US is exceptional due to its access to cheap credit, not due to some inherent superiority. Your comment listing off successful american companies seems to agree with him if anything. Maybe you misread the comment and got a little defensive?
- hwhehwhehegwggw 9mo agoAhh. Makes sense. I did get defensive. Bit not sure why. I don't even live in US.
- raincole 9mo agoDollar is the exception because the US is the exception (partially from luck, partially from its inherited geographical advantage), not the other way around.
- tim333 9mo agoThe US has a lot of other things going for it. Rule of law, enterprise, most of the biggest companies in tech, entertainment and the like.
- throw20251220 9mo agoSomeone should tell the orange guy that we can also stop respecting our obligations. It’s a two way street. It would be a shame if something happened to your ITAR-protected secrets, for example. The US would lose a lot of leverage if they cannot use European military bases. Let’s see how fast Trump goes to bed with Putin…
- ahartmetz 9mo agoI don't think that Trump could get into bed with Putin. He could get out of bed with Putin.
- throw20251220 9mo agoOh, I know. Let’s see how fast he tries to make Putin the good guy on Fox News. What are these rednecks going to do when MAGA goes into bed with Ruzzians! Cold War warriors gonna flip out. Just impeach the guy already. His mental capabilities aren’t far off Biden’s at the end.
- KPGv2 9mo ago> What are these rednecks going to do when MAGA goes into bed with Ruzzians! Cold War warriors gonna flip out. I'm assuming you're from outside the US, because literally everyone in the US is well-acquainted with MAGA wearing shirts like "better Russian than a Democrat"
- throw20251220 8mo agoWhat a retarded country it has become.
- pepperball 8mo ago> Cold War warriors gonna flip out. All of these people folded immediately when a fat TV retard won. I’ve seen them literally call for the nationalization of private companies that act contrary to Trumps desires in the last couple of years.
- epolanski 9mo agoI personally have dumped every single US security I held in the last 2 years, US bonds have been the latest to go in the last week. Mind you I'm a small investor (my portfolio is 100k-ish euros). I'm still exposed to US securities through ETFs though, as I have 3 different ones holding US companies, but that I ain't gonna sell them. But for new capital I may as well provide it to others.
- nine_zeros 9mo ago[dead]
- oxqbldpxo 9mo ago[flagged]
- lateforwork 9mo agoThis quote from Trump is very revelatory: “I’m a real estate developer, I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. It’s not that different. I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of this. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States.’” Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/politics/trump-greenland-america-conquest.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/politics/trump-greenla...
- anabab 9mo agoAh, it is all Mercator's fault
- notahacker 9mo agoFeels like the exception to the rule that Mercator has no impact. Probably not coincidence it involves the head of state whose arguments that Northern California could water Southern California appears to stem from belief that water flowing from north to south is going downhill all the way :)
- egl2020 9mo agoMercator projection aside, Greenland is not tiny. The ice-free area is about as big as California. If you include the icy areas, it's bigger than any U.S. state.
- lateforwork 9mo agoThere must be a reason only 50K people live there. It is not a fun place to live. The only purpose that would be achieved by acquiring Greenland is making the US look bigger on a map.
- thrance 9mo ago[flagged]
- markus_zhang 9mo agoSide topic: I absolutely hate these large “Allow Ads” screen - you can’t even go back on iPhone Safari , which hides the interface unless the user pulls down the whole page - which you can’t because you can only pull down the Allow Ads page.
- dwa3592 9mo agoIt's a pretty respectable fund and will make other pension funds rethink their strategies.
- mmaunder 9mo agoFor context foreign total holdings are around 9T and domestic around 30T. Uk and japan are the largest foreign holders at around 1.7T between them. This is a 100M divestment.
- cco 9mo agoDepending upon how you cut it the Cayman Islands are probably the largest at around 1.8T. But that's just American hedge funds playing in an unregulated country so you could call that domestic as well
- eggy 9mo agoIt's not like the EU can go to China for the $64 to $94bn in mineral fuels and oils (LNG, crude oil) they import from the U.S. Or the aerospace products and parts $35-46bn they import. Or the $45-$52bn in pharmaceuticals and medicines and advanced biologics (unless they go all in on generics, but this is only part of that sum). The list goes on and on. Germany trying to reboot their nuclear energy infrastructure, but it's a bit too late to help this winter, and they're the third largest consumer in the world after the US and and China. India is 8th. The US imports a lot from Mexico, 15.5% of the total $3.36 trillion of US import, right here in the Americas. The EU about imports are about 18.5%. Merz's mother-of-all-deals needs to have India lower its imposed tariffs on Germany of 100-150% on autos, which would cut against India if the new FTA goes through by Q2 2026. May you live in interesting times is a wish or curse coming to fruition...
- danny_codes 9mo agoNot in one year no, but in 5-10 years, certainly. Solar is cheaper than coal in China today and they blew through their capacity targets. I was just there and the EV adoption is phenomenal. The buses, even some heavy trucks are EV. If this pace keeps up for 10 years I don’t see how methane will be useful in the energy sector. Let’s face it, we’re investing in a dying industry. In 20 years our kids (or grandkids) will laugh at any country burning methane to make electricity.
- im3w1l 9mo agoThis sundering of US-European relationship feels like watching a trainwreck in slowmotion. It's all so stupid and avoidable. Is there really nothing that can be done?
- kevin061 9mo agoDemocracy. The people have spoken. Americans wanted this.
- davesque 9mo agoCan people quit with this stupid argument? A thin majority of Americans voted for this during the election. If you follow the polls, the vast majority of American currently don't want this. Just stop with this "dumb Americans" dur dur nonsense. Those of us who have our heads screwed on straight are so sick of being blamed for this. The same thing could happen at any time in any country.
- 4gotunameagain 9mo agoThis is not true. First of all, this is the SECOND time this clown is elected. Secondly, 77,302,580 americans voted for trump. That is one in three. I am sorry you get blamed for this, I know you are not to blame. But you have to see how it looks from the outside, given the incredible effects it has had (most importantly, making millions lose faith in the world. And who knows what more to come.)
- kevin061 9mo agoTo add to this, the thing that really worries me is not that Trump is doing this, but the fact every single US has had the capacity to do this (Trump is proof of it), and the only thing holding back the US from self-immolation and destroying all their partnerships was decorum and being nice, but there were no actual mechanisms, laws, or tools to prevent POTUS from self-appointing himself as King of America, which is extremely worrying for what many people regarded as an advanced democracy.
- forty 9mo agoFeels like the right direction, pull all European money from the US, hope that financial and economical consequences convince US citizens to deal with their president as he deserves. It will decrease profits short term but certainly will have less negative impact than letting that guy in power.
- lingrush4 9mo agoTalk about a pipe dream. This is a far less significant penalty than what has been applied to Russia and absolutely nothing has happened to Putin. Europe could apply all the same sanctions to the US that it has applied to Russia and Trump would still serve out his full term.
- forty 9mo agoThere are differences though. First the US is still a democracy, so unhappy voters matter (and there are the midterms which is an opportunity to express unhappiness). Second the ties between Europe and US are greater than they were between Europe and Russia, so probably this could have more impact.
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- jacquesm 9mo agoKeep in mind that there are many such 10 to 100 billion funds and they can move very fast if they have to. If the feeling is that the value of the USD is going to be lower in the near future they will divest and before you know it the threat becomes reality simply because it is predicated on a belief. Kill the belief and the actions will follow automatically. This could be the first and it could be the only or it could be the first of many.
- OrvalWintermute 9mo agoThe Monroe Doctrine stated, under Polk, that the Euros should not interfere with territorial expansionism of the US in the Western hemisphere, even if it came at their expense. The Roosevelt Corollary stated likewise the US would police any Latin American country's mismanagement. Yet, all these people are proclaiming a certain person a warmonger instead of completely in line with historical US policy.
- shevy-java 9mo agoThis really should be EU-wide or even globally. We can not afford the TechBros anymore - they act not only like evil but also as parasites.
- bflesch 9mo agoI keep repeating myself: Back up your iCloud pictures via privacy.apple.com and move your mails away from M365. Worst case these things get blocked/deleted. I moved my mails from M365 to a 2€ Hetzner cloud server in one day, it's quite easy with docker-compose apps like mailcow. Plus you have encryption and less errors when using thunderbird.
- pvaldes 9mo agoCanada quietly did the same move a few months ago
- fifilura 9mo agoWait until the Norwegians do the same. Regularly claimed to be the worlds largest stock market investor. "The fund is the largest single owner in the world’s stock markets, owning almost 1.5 percent of all shares in the world’s listed companies." https://www.nbim.no/en/about-us/norges-bank-investment-management/ https://www.nbim.no/en/about-us/norges-bank-investment-manag... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor...
- skrebbel 9mo agoI currently hold some Vanguard ETFs. Any tips on similar broad “world economy” type funds that don't use dollars?
- renjimen 9mo agoI do VIU in Canadian Dollars to help balance my other "global" ETFs that are over-reliant on US. VIU: Vanguard FTSE Developed All Cap ex N Amer Idx ETF
- maximus-decimus 9mo agoVEQT is made of what, 4 underlying ETFS? You could just buy the 3 index funds that don't follow an american index and balance yourself once a year.
- ProllyInfamous 9mo agoMy local coin store was busier today than I've ever seen it (visit about once a quarter, for about a decade). Lots of people transacting silver — so much so that the buyback fees were about 50% more than usual — and yet people were primarily turning silver/USD into gold (myself included). When you consider that historically our US fiat has been 65:1 (Au:Ag), it's scary to see the ratio back around the levels when Bretton Woods was implemented (50:1, 1930s-1960s). It's even scarier to see the rapid rate we are approaching to-when USD was gold-backed (22:1), considering that less than two years ago it was over 100:1 . ---- What else is a fiat-based country supposed to do after creating all these unfunded pensions/liabilities ?— ¡¿..then to inflate away the guaranteed difference..?!
- Esophagus4 9mo agoOut of curiosity, what are the transaction costs like for buying and selling physical gold/silver? I would imagine it to be quite costly, especially compared with spreads on equities. I've wondered if maybe large metals funds get better rates, but also have no idea.
- ProllyInfamous 9mo ago>what are the transaction costs like for buying and selling physical gold/silver? This depends on soooo many factors (mainly: mint, store, and your relationship(s) within). I buy and sell both stocks and bullion on long-term (years), and am typically only selling when I get over-extended on a project (construction renovations) and absolutely need liquidity [e.g: today's visit]. Young-forty-something. But today at my US coin store (in a no-tax state), you could buy/sell a Canadian Mapleleaf (an ounce of 99.99% gold in easily-recognizable coin format) for 2.5% spot. For real physical gold that you can hold & hear (isn't fake/heavily-leveraged "paper gold"). I never recommend anybody transacts less than an ounce because the fees rapidly increase on smaller denominations (e.g. tenths are fee-prohibitive, other than as less-expensive gifts for recent graduates). Buy ounce coins, long-term, at regular intervals (no timing the market, only time IN the market!). Silver is a wildcard, at least at my local shops. Today it cost me 6.5% to unload a few hundred ounces — which sucks, but shops are buying lots of silver right now given its recent increases; this increases their risk (should the market correct, which it probably will around $100 IMHO). Typically this would have been about 4.5% — still, I more than quadrupled my original investment (from just a few years ago). So definitely you shouldn't be buying/selling bullion short term (fees will eat you alive!) — but it is always nice to have an emergency fund that isn't fiat (i.e. losing value guaranteed) but is also immediately convertible back into currency (no mail / ACH / bank delays). I have about a year of my normal income in physical bullion. Most I've been holding on to for years — which is how you should transact physical metals. Timing any market is impossible... it doesn't always even rhyme. [•] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging Disclaimer: I am a forty-something electrician — not your financial advisor — and am the type of risk-taker that has "stupidly" taken 10% of his paycheck in bitcoin/bullion, since 2013.
- clpmsf 9mo agoTrump will be a lame duck soon, and it's likely that the next president will be far less extreme. Some sense of American normalcy will likely return relatively soon.
- _zagj 9mo agohttps://www.pensiondanmark.com/en/investments/equity-list/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 https://www.pensiondanmark.com/en/investments/equity-list/?A... Hopefully they'll sell off their Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and other US equity holdings too. Part of the reason US equities are so expensive is massive foreign inflows. Foreign divestment of US equities would mean more Americans could buy them up cheap.
- lazzlazzlazz 9mo agoMany will downvote this, but this is profound validation of the concern that Europe is nearly suicidally trending toward what will be a disastrous relationship with China. Only the US seems to appreciate the risks. Complete insanity, not unlike German denuclearization, etc.
- devlovstad 9mo agoAkademikerPension is a quite unusual pension fund, even by Danish standards due to them being quite political in their holdings. This stance is based on surveys made from their members, where many have indicated that placing their money ethically is as important as getting a good return/minimizing risk. In March 2025, they chose to drop their Tesla shares due to union-busting, lack of independence in the board and due to Elon Musk's actions[1]. Last year, AkademikerPension had a return between 3 and 6 percent, which is lower than other Danish pension funds[2]. [1] https://akademikerpension.dk/nyheder/vi-ekskluderer-tesla/ https://akademikerpension.dk/nyheder/vi-ekskluderer-tesla/ (Danish) [2] https://akademikerpension.dk/nyheder/afkast-mellem-3-og-6-procent-i-turbulent-boersaar/ https://akademikerpension.dk/nyheder/afkast-mellem-3-og-6-pr... (Danish)
- nugator 9mo agoA Swedish pension fund has been doing the same with about 8 billion dollars. "The reason for the sales is an increased risk linked to the US's more unpredictable policies under Trump's leadership, says asset management manager Pablo Bernengo. Alecta assesses that the risk in US government bonds and the dollar has increased at the same time as the country suffers from large budget deficits and a growing national debt." https://omni.se/a/0pK1zJ https://omni.se/a/0pK1zJ
- moogly 9mo agoAlso Swedish fund Alecta at 8 billion dollars (some reports say USD 7.7 - 8.8) https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/global/swedish-pension-fund-alecta-divests-most-us-treasury-holdings-worth-8-billion/30542344 https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/global/swedish-pension...
- toomuchtodo 9mo agoSwedish Alecta has sold off an estimated $8B of US Treasury Bonds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46705256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46705256 - January 2026
- andsoitis 8mo agoFrom: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/01/21/american-decay-versus-american-dynamism https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/01/21/a... "The fund’s managers stressed that the decision was not a reaction to America’s territorial threats to Greenland, a Danish territory, but a judgment on Washington’s rampant overspending. The fund is certainly not ditching American stocks, which make up 60% of its holdings of listed equity. Its private-equity assets tilt similarly heavily to America. Of its high-yield bonds, American issuers account for an even larger share, almost 80%." and "Despite the Danish sale, foreigners own more American government bonds than ever." and "Even after the s&p 500 slid by 2% on January 20th, following another tariff threat from Donald Trump over Greenland (since withdrawn), American assets continue to attract investors."