Japanese industrial production
Continuing Well-Bid Yen
March 16, 2018
A week ago, the dollar traded above 107 yen and now it’s below 105 after having dropped another 0.7% overnight. The yen’s strength has little to do with Japanese developments. Industrial production for January was revised today to show an even bigger 6.8% month-on-month decline, with the further revelation that capacity usage had dropped 7.3% […] More
Fresh Data to Consider
February 28, 2018
In addition to yesterday’s testimony by Fed Chairman Powell, which if anything raised the odds of more than three interest rate hikes in 2018, investors today have a slew of data releases on this final day of February to consider. Thursday’s data release calendar is very heavy as well. The Pacific Rim picked up the […] More
New Highs in the U.S. Stock Market on Final Day of November
November 30, 2017
There’s been the usual ton of data released on this final day of the month, but other matters seem to be lifting confidence. Another gradual Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December seems increasingly probable. For once, news from the Brexit talks has been encouraging. Progress continues on the U.S. tax bill’s movement through Congress. […] More
Dollar Down Even as Stocks Continue to Rise
July 31, 2017
Lots of economic data were reported today. The dollar and U.S. share prices diverged in direction on the final day of July as they had done much of this month. The dollar lost 0.3% against the euro, Swissy and sterling, and it fell 0.2% against the yuan and 0.1% relative to the yen. The never-ceasing […] More
Last Day of May Chocked Full of News
May 31, 2017
There’s an official report today that President Trump has decided to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change accord. White House advisers had been split on this issue. With Britain’s election set for a week from tomorrow, polls reflect a continuing narrowing of the Conservative Party’s lead. A 2.8% overnight plunge in […] More
Lots of U.S. Data and a Yellen Press Conference This Ides of March
March 15, 2017
The Federal Reserve will release new macroeconomic forecasts and is expected to raise the fed funds target at 18:00 GMT, and the press conference begins a half hour later. The dollar softened overnight by 0.6% against the peso, 0.5% versus sterling, 0.4% relative to the New Zealand and Australian dollars, 0.3% vis-a-vis the loonie and […] More
Expected U.S. Inflation Moves Up
October 17, 2016
Janet Yellen’s wide-ranging speech before the weekend appears to have lifted price expectations. The Fed Chair seemed to favor letting inflation exceed target temporarily. Share and bond prices, as well as oil are generally softer. So is the dollar, sterling and some emerging market currencies like the Turkish lira. Turkey’s jobless rate jumped 0.5 percentage […] More
End of August
August 31, 2016
Investors are less worried about European growth and more confident the Fed will lift rates soon at the end of the month than they were at the start of August. A lot of data was released on this final trading session of the month. The dollar is down 0.4% against sterling. Britain’s Nationwide house price […] More
Deluge of Politics and Economics at Midyear
June 30, 2016
Today’s Brexit bombshell is that the Leave movement’s leader, Boris Johnson, pulled out of the running to be Britain’s next prime minister and the person to decide when to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which guides the unprecedented countdown for exiting the European Union. Johnson’s decision presumably will further delay what happens from […] More
Typical Deluge of Data as Another Month Ends
May 31, 2016
Market Highlights: The U.S. dollar dropped 1.1% and 0.9% against the Australian and New Zealand dollars on encouraging economic statistics released today. Against other major currencies, the U. S. dollar is narrowly mixed but poised to record a very strong monthly advance. The Shanghai Composite index of Chinese share prices leaped 3.3%. The cause was […] More
