Bank of Japan Tankan
A New Quarter, Old Issues, and the Data Release Drum Beats On
July 1, 2026
The optimistic rise of equities and bond prices at the end of the last quarter gave way to profit-taking as the new one kicked off. Equity markets in the Pacific Rim closed down 2.0% in South Korea and 0.6% in Australia and Hong Kong. Major European stock markets and futures trading of the four major […] More
Dollar Kicks Off A New Quarter With Another Decline
July 1, 2025
The weighted DXY dollar index slipped 0.4% overnight to a fresh 3-1/2-year low. The dollar lost 0.8% to the yen and Aussie dollar, 0.6% against the Swiss franc, 0.4% against sterling and 0.2% relative to the euro, which at $1.1809 currently is very close to the common currency’s launching level of $1.1876 at the start […] More
PMIs, Bank of Japan Tankan, New Quarter, and Easter Monday
April 1, 2024
Almost all European markets remain closed today for Easter Monday, a holiday of particular sentimental value to yours truly because it marks the 49th anniversary of my first day working in the New York Fed’s foreign department. Europe’s custom of extending the Easter break past the weekend tends to mute currency market trading and the […] More
Dollar Mixed, Stocks Down in Europe and Asia, Oil Up But Sovereign Debt Yields Sharply Lower
October 3, 2022
On this first trading day of the fourth quarter, the dollar fell 1.3%, 0.9%, 0.7% and 0.4% against the kiwi, Aussie dollar, loonie, and sterling but rose by 0.4%, against the euro, 0.2% versus the Swiss franc and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Japanese yen. China is closed most of this week. Stock markets sank 1.1% in […] More
Inflation Worries Continue to Rattle Financial Markets
October 1, 2021
The week-long Chinese national holiday began Friday, but elsewhere in the Pacific Rim equities closed down 2.3% in Japan, 2.2% in Taiwan, 2.0% in Australia, 1.7% in South Korea and 1.2% in Singapore. Share prices so far in the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland have lost 0.6-1.0% on this first trading day of […] More
No Fooling: Today’s Economic Data Show Improvement but Covid Cases on the Rise Too
April 1, 2021
On this opening day of April, the dollar is unchanged against the yen, sterling and New Zealand dollar. The greenback has dipped 0.1% versus the euro and fallen 0.8% against the Turkish lira and 0.5% vis-a-vis the Mexican peso, but the dollar also has risen 0.3% against the Chinese yuan and Canadian dollar, 0.2% versus […] More
U.S. Tax Plan Creating Uncertainty
December 15, 2017
Markets are taking a breather. To paraphrase Yogi, the attempted overhaul of U.S. federal taxation ain’t done until it’s done, and uncertainty over whether a plan will be approved next week, the content of such a deal and its likely economic effects has caused investors to pause from their earlier euphoria. The dollar shows losses […] More
Last Meaningful Week of 2015
December 14, 2015
A lot of information including a likely first federal funds rate hike since June 2006 will be crammed into this third week of December. Such will clear the decks for the end-of-year holiday season, and trading desks will be closing their 2015 books. Back in the day, there was no more consistent reliable bias in […] More
Tankan Survey, PMIs, Greece, and an Approaching U.S. Holiday
July 1, 2015
The dollar began the second half of 2015 on its front foot, firming 0.7% against the Swiss franc, 0.4% versus the yen, 0.3% relative to sterling, 0.2% vis-a-vis the loonie and euro and 0.1% against the Australian dollar. The yuan is unchanged, and the New Zealand dollar edged 0.1% higher against its U.S. counterpart. In […] More
Bank of Japan Tankan Survey
April 1, 2013
The diffusion indices in the table below represent the number of surveyed corporations that considered economic conditions favorable minus the number considering such unfavorable. Negative readings indicate a balance of pessimism, and positive readings show net optimism. The column labeled Bm comprises big manufacturers. Bnm represents big non-manufacturers. Sm are the small manufacturers, and the […] More
