Chinese retail sales and industrial production
Chinese Data, Holiday Closures and Continuing Uncertainty over the Size of the Fed’s First Interest Rate Cut
September 16, 2024
Several Asian countries observed holiday closures this Monday: Japan for Respect for the Aged Day, China and South Korea for the mid-Autumn Festival, and Indonesia on this 1,454th birthday of the prophet Muhmammad. Accordingly, equity and bond markets got off to a slow start this week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 0.3%, while […] More
Chinese Monthly Data Out and Markets Unmoved by G7 Leaders Summit
June 17, 2024
The dollar firmed 0.3% against the yen, Mexican peso and Turkish lira but fell 0.1% against the dollar. Share prices closed down 1.8% in Japan, 1.4% in New Zealand, and 0.6% in China but are modestly firmer in Europe. U.S. stock futures have hardly moved away from Friday closing levels. 10-year sovereign debt yields climbed […] More
Discerning the Future Path When the Choices Are Finely Balanced
May 17, 2024
Investors remain unsure when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates and wonder also whether other major central banks will follow their own compass or take their cue from the Fed. The Bank of Japan faces starkly conflicting priorities. Japan’s economy remains fragile, as attested by first quarter GDP contracting at a 2.0% annualized pace […] More
Global Equities Rise as Week With Many Central Bank Meetings Kicks Off
March 18, 2024
Among the many central bank policy meetings lined up for the coming week, two questions loom in particular. Will the Fed reduce the number of likely rate cuts this year from three as indicated earlier? Possibly. And will the Bank of Japan Board end its negative 0.1% overnight interest rate target, which is deemed likely […] More
U.S. Debt Ceiling Obsession Progressively Crowding Out Other Issues
May 16, 2023
On this Tuesday, The second estimate of Euroland growth in 1Q was reported, leaving GDP unrevised at 0.1% higher than in the final quarter of 2022 and 1.3% above its year earlier level, down from four-quarter advances of 1.8% in 4Q 2022 and 5.5% in the first quarter of last year. Last quarter saw the […] More
Fresh Wave of Concern Surrounding Financial Institutions
March 15, 2023
Equities had rebounded Tuesday following U.S. government measures to protect depositors and amid a slew of reassuring comments from the experts that 2023 is not 2008. In Asia overnight, stock markets had climbed 1.5% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in Singapore, 1.3% in South Korea, and 0.6% in China where growth in retail sales (+3.5% year-on-year […] More
Intensifying Exodus from Equities
September 16, 2022
Led by a nearly 21% overnight plunge in Fed Ex shares, key U.S. stock market indices are down about 1%. Stock markets in the Pacific Rim had closed down 2.3% in China, 2.3% in China, 1.9% in Indonesia, 1.8% in India, 1.3% in Australia and 1.1% in Japan. The German Dax and Paris Cac are […] More
Dollar Up Amid Weaker-Than-Forecast Data Around the World
August 15, 2022
The weighted DXY dollar index is up 0.6% and near its overnight highs. Gains compared to Friday closing levels have been even higher relative to the Canadian dollar (1.0%), New Zealand dollar (1.3%), Australian dollar (1.2%) and Mexican peso (0.7%). The dollar has risen 0.6% vis-a-vis the euro, 0.5% versus sterling and 0.4%relative to the […] More
ECB Steals Some Attention from the Fed
June 15, 2022
An unscheduled meeting of the European Central Bank Governing Council has been underway for a bit over two hours to consider the bond market selloff and increasing fragmentation of that market that saw a 242-basis point spread at the close of Tuesday trading between 10-year Italian and German sovereign debt yields. That hasn’t be so […] More
Disappointing Chinese Data to Kick Off the Week
May 16, 2022
Investors got some bad news from April Chinese economic data and the European Union’s spring forecast. Equity markets closed down 0.3% in China, South Korea, and India but up 0.5% in Japan and 0.3% in Australia. The German Dax and Paris Cac are down 0.6% and 0.4%, and U.S. stock futures have dropped, too. Ten-year […] More
