Chinese CPI and PPI
Investors in Cautious Mood
June 12, 2019
Trade war concerns continue to weigh on financial markets. Share prices fell 1.4% in Hong Kong where street riots escalated in protest of an extradition law. Equities also dropped 0.6% in China, 0.5% in India and Indonesia and 0.4% in Japan. European stock markets so far have lost 0.8% in Italy, 0.7% in the U.K. […] More
Stronger Dollar, Flat U.S. Share Prices and Lower Commodity Prices
April 11, 2019
Compared to Wednesday’s closing, the dollar has strengthened 0.6% against the Aussie dollar, 0.5% versus the kiwi, 0.4% relative to the yen and loonie, 0.2% vis-a-vis sterling and 0.1% against the euro and yuan. Share prices overnight fell in China, Hong Kong and Australia but rose in Europe. The DOW initially rose but now shows […] More
Stocks Up Overnight but Global Growth Concerns Persist
March 11, 2019
More sluggish data emerged as the second full week of March kicked off. German industrial production fell 0.8% on month and 3.3% on year in January. This drop followed quarter-on-quarter declines of 1.7% last summer and 1.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Capital goods production in January slumped 2.5% on month. Germany’s current account […] More
Border Emergency Instead of a Second U.S. Government Shutdown
February 15, 2019
Share prices sank in Asia by 2.2% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in China, 1.3% in South Korea and 1.1% in Japan but have since rallied 1.0% or more in the U.S., Canada, Germany and France. The dollar fell overnight by 0.5% against sterling, 0.3% relative to the Aussie dollar, and 0.2% vis-a-vis the kiwi but […] More
Global Slowdown Concerns Remain in Play
January 10, 2019
FOMC minutes yesterday revealed less clarity about the future path of the fed funds target. Some committee members had been hesitant to endorse December’s rate hike, the ninth of this tightening cycle, although a consensus persists that a few more increase are probable in the future. Ultimately, policy will be reactive to the data, and […] More
U.K., China, and Saudi Arabia in the News
October 16, 2018
British regular pay inflation accelerated 0.2 percentage points to 3.1% in June-August, the highest pace since the start of 2009. This has generated speculation about another Bank of England tightening and lifted the pound 0.5% above yesterday’s closing level. Chinese consumer prices recorded their second straight monthly advance of 0.7% in September, lifting the 12-month […] More
Declines in Kiwi, Ruble and Turkish Lira
August 9, 2018
The dollar advanced overnight by 1.6% against the New Zealand dollar, 0.9% versus the Russian ruble, and some 2.5% vis-a-vis the Turkish lira. Not only did the latest review of New Zealand monetary policy end with leaving the Official Cash Rate at 1.75%, half its level prior to the June 2015 first of 7 reductions, […] More
Post-G7 Market Reaction Suppressed ahead of Tomorrow’s Kim-Trump Meeting and Several Key Central Bank Policy Reviews Later this Week
June 11, 2018
The annual summit of Group of Seven leaders over the weekend went poorly (see my review), but share prices mostly rose today in Asia and Europe. Stocks advanced 0.8% in South Korea, 0.5% in Japan, 0.4% in New Zealand, 0.3% in Hong Kong, 0.2% in Singapore, and 0.1% in India but slipped 0.5% in China […] More
Down Day for Stocks and Dollar
April 11, 2018
Military conflict between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria appears at hand. Trump is promising missile strikes, and Russia claims to have the ability to knock them out of the sky before targets are hit. Investors are uneasy that these hostilities will escalate further. U.S. consumer price inflation accelerated further in March in spite of […] More
Commodity Prices Strengthen
October 16, 2017
West Texas Intermediate crude oil advanced 1.3% to $52.10 per barrel, and copper strengthened nearly 3%. Comex gold is 0.2% higher. Comments over the weekend at the IMF meetings in Washington from the likes of Yellen, Zhou, and Constancio stressed that growth is doing well and expressed puzzlement that wage inflation continues to lag. BOJ […] More
