Euroland trade balance
Third Week of June Starts with Virus-Driven Risk Aversion
June 15, 2020
The attempted reopening of business activity is happening with a critically missing element, and that is the public’s confidence that doing so is safe from a health standpoint. This is particularly true in the United States where many politicians and the medical experts are saying different things and after a four-year propaganda war to destroy […] More
Share Prices Slip
January 15, 2020
If all goes as planned, the Phase One trade deal between China and the United States will be signed today, but significant tariffs remain. The quarterly meeting of branch managers at the Bank of Japan downgraded economic conditions in three of the nine main regions but found none to be experiencing contracting growth and remained […] More
Commodity Prices Strengthen
October 16, 2017
West Texas Intermediate crude oil advanced 1.3% to $52.10 per barrel, and copper strengthened nearly 3%. Comex gold is 0.2% higher. Comments over the weekend at the IMF meetings in Washington from the likes of Yellen, Zhou, and Constancio stressed that growth is doing well and expressed puzzlement that wage inflation continues to lag. BOJ […] More
Discussions on a Quiet Day in the Market
March 17, 2017
Fed Chair Yellen and U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin are in Baden-Baden Germany for two days of talks with their Group of Twenty counterparts. Trade and currency manipulation will be center stage. German Chancellor Merkel is in Washington on a visit with U.S. President Trump, who has criticized the size of the German current account deficit […] More
Chinese Price Data Lend Support to Investor Sentiment
October 14, 2016
The perceived strength of the Chinese economy continues to exert enormous influence over market sentiment. Poor trade data on Thursday sent global stocks tumbling, but today’s price reports indicated higher-than-expected inflation and generated a relief rally. Chinese consumer prices advanced 0.7% on month in September and 1.9% on year, the biggest 12-month increase since a […] More
Dollar Little Moved by U.S. and Other Data
September 15, 2015
The dollar shows no net overnight movement against the euro, yuan and loonie, a rise of 0.3 against the Aussie dollar and sterling, a gain of 0.2% and 0.1% versus the kiwi and Swissie, and a drop of 0.2% relative to the yen. Chinese share prices slumped 3.5%, and there were stock market declines of […] More
Somewhat Better-Than-Forecast Chinese Data Lifts European Equities
July 16, 2014
Stock markets in Europe have risen so far today by 1.6% in Italy, 1.4% in France, 1.2% in Germany and Spain, 0.9% in Britain and 0.8% in Switzerland. Stocks in the Pacific Rim did not immediately respond to stronger-than-expected Chinese GDP and industrial production, as investors at first concluded that the government in Beijing would […] More
Shifting Expectations about the Fed Support Equities
June 17, 2013
All the market talk over the past month about the Fed tapering quantitative easing had seemed premature, and as the FOMC meeting on Wednesday now draws near, investors are dumbing down their expectations for such a signal. Share prices as a result recovered 2.7% in Japan, 1.2% in Hong Kong, 0.8% in India, 0.7% in […] More
Transformative Election Results in Japan
December 17, 2012
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party captured 294 seats in the lower house of parliament, a massive gain from the 119 seats it held previously. Along with New Komeito’s 31-seat total, the incoming coalition will control a “supermajority” of 325 seats, more than 2/3rds of the 480 seats in that legislative chamber, and that total will enable […] More
