Euroland GDP
Fractious Politics Magnifying Fear Over the Covid-19 Pandemic
May 15, 2020
The Trump Administration’s harsh rhetoric against China has been elevated to trade sanctions. Semiconductor shipments to the Chinese firm Huawei are being prevented. In another disturbing political development, British Prime Minister Johnson reaffirmed and with more force that there will be no post-Brexit negotiations with the EU beyond the end of this year. In 2020, […] More
ECB Monetary Policy Review and Some Atrocious Economic Data
April 30, 2020
At a scheduled meeting of the European Central Bank Governing Council, officials left key interest rate unchanged (a 0.0% refinancing rate flanked by a -0.5% deposit rate and a 0.25% marginal lending rate). Quantitative stimulus (asset purchases) was not enhanced beyond last month’s parameters. Terms were relaxed on some lending operations, and a new series […] More
Partial Reversal of Monday’s Extreme Financial Market Moves but Mood Remains Extremely Guarded
March 10, 2020
Today’s rebound in equities and sovereign debt yields looks more like a dead-cat bounce than a trend reversal because the Covid-19 pandemic is still widening, skepticism about policy effectiveness and forcefulness is enormous, and the Saudi-Russian oil war is unsettled. Share prices in the Pacific Rim rose 1.8% in China, 3.1% in Australia, 1.6% in […] More
European GDP, U.S. Retail Sales and Industrial Production, Continuing Coronavirus Spread, and Another Trump Dispute With Own Government People
February 14, 2020
From a news standpoint, Friday has been a very busy day, but financial market movements have been tempered. Mid-morning in NY finds the dollar up 0.2% against the Swiss franc and sterling and plus-or-minus 0.1% relative to other key currencies. Share prices fell 0.6% in Japan and 0.5% in India and New Zealand but up […] More
Another Wave of Coronavirus-Related Risk Aversion to End Month of January
January 31, 2020
Near to noontime in New York, the DOW, S&P 500 and Canadian TSE indices shows losses of 1.2%, 1.1%, and 0.9% in North American trading. Earlier, stocks fell 1.9% in Indonesia, 1.4% in South Korea, 0.9% in Malaysia, and 0.5% in Hong Kong and India. China’s market continues to stay shut. In Europe, the British […] More
Important Japanese, Euro Area, and Chinese Data Released
November 14, 2019
Japanese real GDP expanded at a lower-than-forecast 0.2% last quarter at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate. It was the weakest quarterly growth rate in a year. Net exports and inventories combined to exert a 1.8 percentage point drag on GDP growth. The GDP price deflator rose 0.6% between the third quarters of 2018 and 2019. […] More
Yield Curve Inversion Amplifies Recession Fears and Flight to Safe Assets
August 14, 2019
The 2-year Treasury note yield edged marginally above the 10-year yield for the first time in 14-1/2 years. This and a similar yield curve inversion in the U.K. happened as investors selectively fixated on weak data while ignoring some better-than-expected statistics, causing share prices to drop sharply in Europe and the United States. Losses amount […] More
Released Data in the Spotlight
February 14, 2019
Thursday figured to be a day of data watching with the scheduled release of both Euroland and Japanese GDP figures, plus China’s trade balance. But it was much weaker-than-anticipated U.S. retail sales in December that caught the market’s attention, giving greater credence to recent warnings from several economists that U.S. recessionary risks seem to be […] More
Short-Lived Fed Stockmarket Rally
January 31, 2019
The FOMC’s tightening pause gave a big boost to U.S. stocks yesterday and was augmented by some better-than-expected corporate earnings. But the DOW fell in the first hour of U.S. trading, and share prices have also weakened today in Germany France, and Australia. This contrasts with gains close to 1% in China, Hong Kong and […] More
U.S. Stocks Under Renewed Selling Pressure
December 7, 2018
The late Thursday rebound in U.S. share prices proved short-lived: the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq at this writing show losses today of 0.9%, 0.8%, and 1.1% despite an equity-strengthening performance earlier in Europe and Asia. A successful conclusion to U.S.-Sino trade talks looks to be in peril. Also, the monthly U.S. labor force report revealed […] More
