U.K. Economy Getting Worse in a Hurry
June 9, 2008
The sum of Britain’s manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI) in May (50.0) and the sister index for service-producing industries, 49.8, added up to less than 100.0 for the first time since April 2003. Just nine months previously, the sum was 113.9, comprised of 56.1 in manufacturing and 57.8 in services. Since mid-2007, the two most […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Misery Index Redux
June 9, 2008
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has released new semi-annual forecasts of growth and inflation this year and for 2009. For those areas that comprise the G7 — the U.S., Japan, Britain, Canada and the big-3 of Euroland — one can derive a growth/inflation tradeoff index by subtracting the latter from the former. […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Euroland Growth in the Spotlight
June 9, 2008
Nobody disputes that inflation in Euroland is unacceptable or that short-term prospects for significant improvement are very slim. A wider range of opinions surrounds forecasts about how much economic growth is likely to slow. Officials at the European Central Bank (ECB) are on the optimistic side of the spectrum, cautioning that a steep loss of […] More
Bank of Canada to Cut Key Interest Rate Tomorrow
June 9, 2008
Similar to the FOMC, policymakers at the Bank of Canada schedule eight meetings per year to review economic conditions and set the overnight interest rate target. Under emergency conditions, the rate can be changed between meetings, but that happens very seldomly. The key rate was reduced at each of the last four meetings — by […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Developments Abroad
June 9, 2008
The yen is soft, trading down 0.7% against the dollar. The U.S. currency otherwise shows losses of 0.3% against the pound, 0.2% against the euro, and 0.1% against the C-dollar and Swiss franc. The kiwi and Aussie dollar are unchanged. In Asia, the Nikkei sank 2.1%, the kospy fell 1.3%, and China’s CSI 300 slid […] More
