Chinese, Japanese and German Trade Figures Reported Plus Several Second Tier Other Releases
August 8, 2017
China’s $46.74 billion trade surplus in July was the widest since $51.35 billion last January.
Japan recorded a JPY 935 billion current account surplus in June, 4.3% less than a year earlier, the the seasonally adjusted surplus rose 8.7% on month to JPY 1.523 trillion. The settlements trade surplus was 32% smaller than a year earlier in June but just 11.7% less in the first half of 2017 than in 1H16.
The German EUR 23.6 billion current account surplus in June was 1.5 times bigger than May’s surplus reflecting seasonal bias. It was down only marginally from EUR 24.0 billion a year earlier. The German trade surplus averaged EUR 20.4 billion per month last quarter in seasonally adjusted terms, fractionally more than EUR 20.0 billion per month in 1Q and much larger relative to GDP than either the Chinese or Japanese surpluses.
The dollar was mixed overnight, climbing 0.4% against the kiwi and sterling, 0.3% relative to the euro and 0.2% vis-a-vis the Swissy but falling 0.3% against the yen, 0.2% versus the yuan and peso, and 0.1% against the loonie.
In the Pacific Rim, share prices climbed 1.1% in Indonesia and 0.8% in Hong Kong but fell 0.9% in India, 0.5% in Australia and 0.3% in Japan. Stocks in Germany, France, Italy, U.K. and the U.S. so far rose between 0.1% and 0.3%.
Ten-year Treasury, German bund and British gilt yields are two basis points firmer, while the Japanese JGB is steady.
Oil just can’t seem to overtake the $50 barrier. WTI is down 0.7% at $49.06 per barrel, and gold has drifted 0.1% lower to $1,263.70 per ounce.
Japan’s economy watchers index slid 0.3 points to a 2-month low of 49.7 in July. The forward-looking economy watchers outlook indicator also dipped 0.3 points to 50.3. On-year growth in Japanese bank lending held steady at 3.3% in July, and bankruptcies, which had posted a 7.5% on-year drop in June, were 0.3% greater than a year earlier in July. The customs clearance trade surplus in July 1-20 of JPY 5.6 billion was much smaller than the year-earlier surplus of JPY 99.9 billion. Small business sentiment last quarter tallied a score of +7, two points better than in the first quarter and a dozen points above the year-earlier quarter.
Small business sentiment in the United States according to the NFIB indicator improved to a 5-month high in July of 105.2 from 103.6 in June. The U.S. Labor Dept’s JOLTS data showed 3.4% more job openings in June than a year earlier. Investor sentiment toward the U.S. economy according to the IBD/TIPP Optimism index climbed to a 5-month high of 52.2 in August from 50.2 last month. Chain store sales in America according to the Redbook index were 2.7% higher than a year earlier last week.
Indonesian GDP growth last quarter was somewhat weaker than predicted, as the on-year changed remained steady at 5.0% instead of edging up to 5.1%. It doesn’t look like the government’s growth target of 5.2% in 2017 will be quite attained. But consumer confidence bounced from June’s 3-month low to a 2-month high in July.
Swiss unemployment stayed level at 3.2% seasonally adjusted in July.
In the year to July, Dutch and Hungarian consumer prices rose by 1.3% and 2.1% — each a tad higher than June’s inflation rates. But Cyprus’s CPI was 0.1% lower than in July 2016.
In the year to June, industrial production advanced 3.4% in Turkey and 1.6% in Greece.
Recent remarks by Fed officials such as Bullard and Kashkari suggest U.S. policymakers will not delay plans to begin lower the central bank balance sheet gradually later this year.
Copyright 2017, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: Chinese trade balance, German current account, Japanese trade balance