U.S. and Canadian trade balances
Upward Bounce in the Dollar
September 3, 2020
Dollar advances today amount to 0.6% against the Australian dollar and sterling, 0.5% versus the Canadian and New Zealand dollars, and 0.3% relative to the yen and euro. A new high in the dollar was touched against Turkey’s lira after investors learned that Turkish reserves have drained to a 15-year low. The Russian ruble is […] More
Higher Bond Yields
November 5, 2019
Ten-year sovereign debt yields advanced by another five basis points overnight in Japan and the United States, by 3 bps in Germany and 1 basis point in Great Britain. The dollar fell 0.4% against the Chinese currency, edging back marginally under 7.0 yuan per dollar. Elsewhere, the dollar advanced 0.4% against the Swiss franc and […] More
Some Geopolitical Relief but Not Out of the Woods
September 4, 2019
The British Parliament passed a bill late yesterday by a 328-301 margin to stop Prime Minister Johnson from engineering a no-deal breakaway from the EU on October 31. BoJo, as he is known, is expected to lose more votes today and to call snap elections for October 14th. It’s not clear the Parliament will authorize […] More
U.S. Trade Deficit Catapults Higher Despite Tariff Policy
March 6, 2019
The U.S. goods and services trade deficit soared to a 122-month high in December of $59.8 billion. That was 18.8% greater than November’s deficit and embodied an $81.5 billion deficit from traded goods. The 2018 goods and services trade deficit equaled $621.0 billion, compared to $552.3 billion in 2017 and $502.0 billion in the last […] More
Stampede Out of Risky Assets
December 6, 2018
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.9% overnight, and share prices are down even more sharply in the United States, Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Spain, China, Hong Kong. 10-year sovereign debt yields have climbed 14 and 10 basis points in Italy and Greece but fallen 8 bps in the U.K., 7 bps in the U.S., 5 bps in […] More
Market Disturbances
May 3, 2018
Share prices fell late yesterday in the wake of an FOMC statement that reinforced the possibility of faster, rather than slower, rate hike normalization. Overnight in the Pacific Rim, Japan’s string of Golden Week holidays resumed with Constitution Day, but stocks elsewhere fell 2.6% in Indonesia, 1.4% in Hong Kong, 1.1% in Singapore, 0.6% in […] More
Fear Time
February 6, 2018
FDR famously declared that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and markets have been finding plenty of that since share prices crested at the end of the week ending January 26th. The DOW is already down nearly 1% today and has dropped 9.2% in just over six sessions. Tuesday equity losses […] More
Dollar and Sterling Strengthen but Oil Steps Back
December 6, 2016
The dollar is unchanged against the pound but up 0.4% against the yen, loonie, kiwi and Australian dollar. The U.S. currency also rose 0.2% overnight relative to the euro and Swiss franc. An appeal is being heard in British courts regarding the legality of leaving the EU based solely on a voter referendum. Sterling has […] More
U.S. and Canadian Trade Figures in 2011
February 10, 2012
U.S. exports of goods and services leaped 33.6% between 2009 and 2011. Last year’s census-basis merchandise trade deficit widened $91.4 billion, or 14.4%. Growth in the bilateral deficit with the euro area accounted for 25.0% of the overall deficit’s incremental growth last year, marginally more than the 24.5% share of additional deterioration attributable to trade […] More
North American Data
June 9, 2011
The United States and Canada released April trade figures. The headline U.S. goods and services deficit looked encouraging, contracting $3.1 billion or 6.7%, but the census-basis merchandise trade shortfall only narrowed $15 million (0.03%) and was concentrated in an 11.5% decline in the deficit with OPEC. The deficit with China was $3.5 billion wider in […] More
