Euroland industrial production
Politicians Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and Investors Lack Confidence that the Right Choices Will Be Made
May 13, 2020
Investors are concerned about the grim warnings from medical experts yesterday about the dangers of reopening business prematurely and without a plan for dealing with localized flare-ups of the pandemic. Hong Kong reported a new case after weeks without one. At the same time, frightening data continue to be reported, and worries are mounting that […] More
Dollar Extends Rise Amid Pandemic-Related Uncertainty
April 16, 2020
Overnight dollar gains prior to today’s report on U.S. new jobless insurance claims range from 1.0% versus the peso, 0.5% against sterling, 0.4% relative to the Australian dollar, 0.3% versus the euro and kiwi, 0.2% against the Swiss franc, and 0.1% relative to the yen, yuan, and loonie. In futures trading, the 10-year U.S. Treasury […] More
Worst Day Yet
March 12, 2020
Ironically on the one-month anniversary of the DJIA record high close, financial markets have experienced a calamitous session, and the catalyst for intensifying chaos was President Trump’s prime-time speech last night on the coronavirus pandemic. The tally of global cases stands now at 129,296 with 4,749 dead so far. Equity markets fell today by 11.7% […] More
Equity Markets Rise and Dollar Narrowly Mixed
February 12, 2020
Fed Chairman Powell will reprise yesterday’s upbeat Humphrey Hawkins testimony today before the Senate Banking Committee. He characterized the U.S. economy as “in a very good place” and said policy would react to the coronavirus impact only if such proves “persistent and material.” Recent remarks by other Fed officials such as Harker, Daly, and Bullard […] More
Share Prices Slip
January 15, 2020
If all goes as planned, the Phase One trade deal between China and the United States will be signed today, but significant tariffs remain. The quarterly meeting of branch managers at the Bank of Japan downgraded economic conditions in three of the nine main regions but found none to be experiencing contracting growth and remained […] More
Central Banks, Economic Data Surprises, and British Voters in the News This Thursday
December 12, 2019
Polls in Britain’s parliamentary election today will close at 22:00 GMT 17:00 EST. The fate of Brexit is at stake. U.S. producer prices stayed unchanged in November, defying expectations of an increase and leaving the 12-month increase at 1.1%. An even bigger surprise was a leap in new jobless insurance claims last week to 252k, […] More
A Little Bit of Everything This Wednesday
November 13, 2019
Investors have much to watch today including two separate congressional events of great interest. Public hearings on a possible impeachment of President Trump begin at 10:00 EST in the House Intelligence Committee, and one hour later Fed Chairman Powell testifies on the economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee. There’s already been one central bank […] More
Sterling and European Share Prices Falter
October 14, 2019
In this important week for the fate of Brexit, sterling dropped 0.9% against the dollar overnight. On a day with holiday closures in the United States (Columbus Day), Canada (Thanksgiving), and Japan (Health Sports Day), the dollar otherwise advanced 0.7% against the kiwi, 0.2% versus the euro, and 0.5% relative to the Australian dollar but […] More
Markets React to ECB Stimulus, U.S. CPI Data, and Continuing Hopes on Trade Talks
September 12, 2019
Policymakers at the European Central Bank as expected cut the deposit rate by 10 basis points to minus 0.50%, announced an open-ended asset purchase program to start in November at EUR 20 billion per month, said targeted LTRO operations will carry the average deposit rate, and introduced a a 2-tiered system of reserve remuneration in […] More
Softer Dollar as Second Week of July Draws to a Close
July 12, 2019
The dollar fell overnight by 0.5% against the Swiss franc, 0.4% versus the yen, 0.3% relative to the Australian dollar, and 0.2% vis-a-vis the loonie, peso, and sterling. EUR/USD is unchanged, however. The S&P 500, Hang Seng, Nikkei, and German Dax are barely changed, but Chinese equities rose 0.5% after release of Chinese data showing […] More
