Euroland CPI
Broad-Based Republican Defeat Sends Equities and Gold Higher and Long-Term Interest Rates and Dollar Lower
November 4, 2026
In 2027 and 2028, Democrats will hold majorities in the Senate, the House of Representatives and state governorships. With a gain of seven senate seats that flipped from Republican to Democrat, the senate ratio becomes 54 Dems to 44 Reps and 2 independents who tend to caucus with the Democrats. Among declared House races, the […] More
More Reason for Inflationary Concern and a Distress Flare from Indonesia
October 16, 2026
Like the consumer and producer price reports on Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. import and export prices just released surpassed market expectations. Overall import prices jumped 1.1% in September, raising their 12-month increase to a 50-month high of 8.1%. Import price inflation had been at 7.0% in August, zero percent last December and as low as […] More
Awaiting U.S. Employment Situation Report and Finding Some Relief from Lower Oil Price
October 2, 2026
The prices of West Intermediate crude and Brent oil fell overnight by 3.8% and 2.4% in response to France’s proposed release of some strategic oil reserves. This attempt to supplement available global supply is something that the Trump administration has been asking European governments to do. A better flow of traffic through the key Strait […] More
WTI Oil Back Above $85, Signs of Higher Inflation, and Japanese Intervention But No Rate Hike
July 31, 2026
What started as a war between the U.S. and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other has broadened into a regional conflict that threatens to engulf Europe with a triple shipping choke-hold at the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Suez Canal. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed […] More
Strengthening Case for Tighter Monetary Policies
June 2, 2026
This has been another day without the cause of peace being enhanced. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains mostly non-existent. Russia has escalated military bombardments of Ukraine. It remains unclear whether Israel will heed calls for it to deescalate its war in Lebanon. There has been a direct link between the geopolitical strife in […] More
U.S. PPI, Fed Decision and Powell’s Press Conference Loom on a Day With Many Other Central Bank Rate Decisions as Well
March 18, 2026
There’s been scant net movement in the dollar overnight. The Federal Open Market Committee is not expected to change the 3.5-3.75% federal funds target range, but today’s meeting has created considerable attention. It’s Chairman Powell’s next-to-last meeting as chairman, but he could stay on the committee into 2028 when his 14-year term as an at-large […] More
Shifting Expectations about What Central Banks Might Need to Do
March 3, 2026
All things considered, the reaction of financial markets yesterday to the quickly unfolding war in the Middle East was more muted than many had reason to expect. The media are having a hard time keeping up with the rapidly changing events, and a crisis-watcher is apt to be misled by anything but real-time breaking news. […] More
Dollar Unmoved by Record-Long State of the Union Address
February 25, 2026
Aside from a 0.5% overnight rise against the yen and a 0.5% drop versus the Australian dollar, the U.S. currency is narrowly mixed, and the DXY weighted dollar index is unchanged from Tuesday’s closing value. Major U.S. equity index rises of about 0.5% in pre-open futures trading show smaller increases than many other stock exchanges. […] More
Witching Hour
October 31, 2025
Halloween 2025 finds the dollar in treat mode, with overnight gains of 0.4% against the kiwi, 0.3% versus sterling, 0.2% relative to the loonie, Aussie dollar and Swiss franc and 0.1% against the euro. While many stock markets are closing the week on a down note, U.S. stock futures an hour before the opening bell […] More
News of Regional Bank Credit Strains Inject Fresh Fears into the Marketplace
October 17, 2025
The report of distressed loans by Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp sent their share prices crashing 13.1% and 10.8% today and created an unsettling deja vu from 18 years ago. According to AI Overview, On August 8, 2007, the global financial crisis intensified as banks experienced liquidity problems stemming from the collapse of the […] More
