foreign exchange
Greater Optimism on A U.S. Border Security Deal
February 12, 2019
The U.S. Congress reached an accord “in principle” on a border security deal. Details still need to be fleshed out, and it’s not clear if President Trump is prepared to sign such. But the development inspired enough hope to lift U.S. share prices about 1% in early Tuesday trading. Stocks earlier rose 2.6% in Japan, […] More
Political Strains Batter Equities Again
January 28, 2019
Prospects weakened over the weekend for a border security deal between President Trump and Congressional Democrats by the February 15th deadline. The president attaches less than even odds to that happening and insists that a wall will be built. The negotiation of withdrawal terms for Brexit is going nowhere. The EU rejects any renegotiation of […] More
Early 2019 Check-Up on the Dollar
January 10, 2019
Compared to volatile share prices and sovereign debt yields, key dollar relationships like EUR/USD and USD/JYP have been pretty stable lately, and neither of those pairs is trading in historically extreme territory. The euro just passed its 20th birthday. Over the four quadrants of this lifespan, the common European currency had an average value of […] More
Some Weak Data from Japan and Germany and No End to U.S. Government Shutdown
January 8, 2019
Consumer confidence in Japan ended 2018 at a 25-month low. A 1.9% plunge in German industrial production in November has raised the risk of a second consecutive quarterly contraction of real GDP in Europe’s largest economy. GDP fell 0.2% in the third quarter, and industrial output posted back-to-back month-on-month declines of 0.8% in October and […] More
October in Figures
November 1, 2018
October was a broadly strong month for the dollar but a bad one for global equities. Monetary policy rates did not change this past month in the U.S., Euroland, Japan, Great Britain or Switzerland, but 10-year sovereign debt yields rose in North America while falling in Europe, and staying unchanged in Japan. The price of West […] More
August in Figures
August 31, 2018
Many stock markets performed well in August as such had in July. Exceptions were those in the U.K., Switzerland, and Canada. The yen and Swiss franc rose against the dollar, which otherwise advanced against the other currencies examined in this monthly feature. The dollar also strengthened 33% against the Turkish lira during August. The Bank […] More
Softer Dollar and Share Prices
July 25, 2018
The dollar fell 0.8% overnight against the peso and 0.5% versus the yuan, and it has slipped 0.3% against the loonie, 0.1% vis-a-vis the Australian dollar, and 0.2% relative to the yen, euro, Swiss franc, kiwi, and sterling. Share price losses amount to 0.3% in Taiwan and South Korea, 0.8% in the U.K., 0.6% in […] More
A Sharp Increase in European Long-Term Sovereign Debt Yields
June 6, 2018
Ten-year sovereign debt yields have recorded daily increases of 9 basis points in Italy and France, 8 bps in The Netherlands, 7 bps in Germany and Greece, 6 bps in Switzerland and the U.K., 5 bps in Spain and 4 basis points in Portugal. Yields in North America are up 4 bps in Canada and […] More
March and First Quarter 2018 in Figures
March 31, 2018
March was a difficult month for equities, largely because of Fed tightening, U.S.-inspired geopolitical uncertainty, and trade war fears. Nevertheless, U.S. share price losses in the first quarter of 2018 were generally smaller than declines recorded in other countries. Despite higher short-term interest rates during March especially in the United States and Great Britain, year-to-date […] More
February in Figures
February 28, 2018
February was unlike January. The dollar had declined across the board in the first month of 2018, but declined, except against the yen, during February. Likewise, share prices performed well in January but experienced a difficult February, including the biggest U.S. monthly drop in just over two years. Stocks were spooked by speculation that the […] More
