G20
Watching G20 Talks and French Election
April 20, 2012
Finance ministers and central bank leaders from the Group of Twenty meeting in Washington are talking mostly about the euro debt crisis. The first round of French Presidential elections on Sunday is expected to set up a run-off contest on May 6 between the incumbent center-right Sarkozy and the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande. The term [...] More
Eye on Central Banks and Spanish Banking System
April 18, 2012
The dollar advanced 0.7% against the yen, 0.4% versus the Swiss franc, and 0.3% relative to the euro. The greenback is unchanged against the yuan and loonie, 0.1% higher versus the New Zealand and Australian dollars, and down 0.3% against the yen. Fresh worries about Spanish banks followed news from the Bank of Spain that [...] More
Numerous Official Efforts to Halt Market Turmoil Mostly Failing
August 8, 2011
After markets closed Friday, S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+ and retained a negative outlook, meaning more downgrades are possible. Stocks in Israel tumbled almost 7% on Sunday. G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors released a statement that “affirms our commitment to take all necessary initiatives in a coordinated way [...] More
Many Data Releases and Ireland Gets a Ratings Downgrade
April 15, 2011
Moody’s downgraded Irish debt by two notches and left the outlook negative. Chinese GDP growth of 9.7% last quarter surpassed expectations of 9.4%. GDP had risen 10.3% in 2010 and 9.8% between 4Q09 and 4Q10. GDP advanced 2.1% quarterly between the final quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011. Other data, many of which [...] More
Geopolitical Tensions Boost Commodity Prices
February 21, 2011
North American markets will be closed today to commemorate President’s Day in the United States and Family Day in Canada. Wintry weather has returned to the Northeast. China too has caught the contagious bug of social unrest. President Hu urged tighter controls of the internet. High food costs, as in the middle east, have been [...] More
Asian Stocks Sink on Chinese Rate Hike Speculation
November 12, 2010
Equities tumbled 6.2% in China, 2.1% in India and Indonesia, 1.9% in Hong Kong, 1.6% in the Philippines, 1.3% in Singapore, 1.1% in Thailand, and 1.4% in Japan and Taiwan. Investors suspect the People’s Bank of China may notch up its interest rates further over this weekend. Stocks also fell 0.8% in Australia, 0.6% in [...] More
Veterans Day 2010
November 11, 2010
Four score and a dozen years after the last shots were fired in the Great War to end all wars, a state of armed conflict has in fact become the norm rather than the exception. Although special days like today are set aside to remember and show gratitude to those who faced personal harm so [...] More
Greenspan and Geithner Duke it Out in Verbal Currency Wars
November 11, 2010
With G20 leaders meeting in Seoul, South Korea, bond market strains on the euro area peripherals — Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Spain and Italy — intensified. The Irish-German ten-year spread widened past 650 basis points. ECB member Stark denied the fiscal problems of these members constitutes a euro crisis per se. Another ECB member reiterated that [...] More
Higher Fixed Income Yields
November 10, 2010
The 10-year British gilt yield jumped another 11 basis points. Comparable German bund and Japanese JGB yields are up six and two basis points, and so are Treasury future yields. Irish 10-year yields advanced for a twelfth session in a row, bringing their premium versus bunds to nearly 580 basis points. Irish yields were 171 [...] More
October PMI Results Favor United States Over Euro Zone
November 4, 2010
Purchasing managers survey results were more U.S.-advantageous in October than September and in September than August. The sum of the U.S. minus Euroland manufacturing and services spreads, shown in the right-most column of the table below, was +3.3 in October after minus 0.2 in September and minus 3.2 points in August. Much of this change [...] More
