British retail sales and consumer confidence
Financial Markets Remain Unsettled in Wake of Powell and Biden Speeches
October 20, 2023
Despite conceding that officials are carefully monitoring the recent sharp increase in bond yields, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s message remained hawkish overall. Inflation is still too high, a restrictive stance will be needed for quite a while longer, and further rate hikes may be required. The U.S. economy has shown resilience in the face of […] More
Weaker Growth, Lessening Inflation, But Central Banks Not Done Tightening
June 23, 2023
Preliminary purchasing manager survey findings for June revealed a surprisingly steep softening of growth and subsiding inflation. However, inflation remains well above target and is exhibiting particular downside rigidity in the all-important service sectors. A slew of central bank policy reviews over the past two weeks elicited hawkish announcements for the most part. All in […] More
A Widening Gap Around the World Between Service Sector Activity and Manufacturing Conditions
April 21, 2023
The dollar rose overnight by 0.6% against the Australian and New Zealand dollars and 0.4% relative to the Canadian dollar and sterling but also slid 0.3% vis-a-vis the Japanese yen and 0.1% against the euro and Mexican peso. Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose four basis points in Italy and three bps in Germany, France and […] More
Prices, Consumer Confidence, and Recessionary Worries
January 20, 2023
On this eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, investors are digesting the latest inflation data, perusing reports on consumer confidence, but also continuing to worry about the risk of recession to which many economists in both the private and public sectors ascribe better than even odds. The global economy is coming off a […] More
Russia Getting Its Way in Ukraine… Western European Slowdown Intensifying
July 22, 2022
Although economic sanctions had been unsuccessful in many earlier instances, that was the initial NATO response to Russian President Putin’s blatant aggression against Ukraine. The pressure initially seemed to impose great pain on the Russian economy and financial markets. The Central Bank of Russia had previously doubled its key interest rate in 2021 from a […] More
Equities and Bond Yields Up… Dollar and Price of Oil Slip
February 19, 2021
Share prices advanced 0.7% in South Korea, 0.6% in China, and 0.5% in Indonesia. European markets and U.S. futures are up, too, but equities fell in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Ten-year sovereign debt yields today climbed 6 basis pints in the U.K., 3 bps in the U.S. and Germany and one basis point […] More
