German IFO Business climate index
With No Fresh Shift in Middle East Crisis, Market Attention Shifts to Resilient Corporate Earnings Reports
April 24, 2026
The dollar slid 0.1-0.2% overnight against major currencies but rose 0.5% against the beleaguered Indonesian rupiah. Major U.S. equity indices were lifted by better-than-presumed first-quarter corporate profits in firms such as Intel, HCA Healthcare and Procter & Gamble. Among stock exchanges in other countries, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.0% higher, while India’s Sensex fell 1.3%. […] More
German Economic Setback, U.N. Speeches, and Parsing U.S. Monetary Policy
September 24, 2025
The dollar got an across-the-board lift from a disappointing German business climate survey result in September. That monthly report from the IFO Institute in Munich yielded an unexpected 4-month low reading of 87.7 after August’s 15-month high and in contrast to analyst expectations of a third straight rise. Commenting on the survey results, IFO President […] More
Dollar and 10-Year Sovereign Debt Yields a Bit Higher, But Bitcoin and Gold Prices Slip
July 25, 2025
The weighted DXY dollar index climbed 0.4% overnight, lifted by a 0.5% advance against the yen and sterling but a smaller dollar gain of 0.2% relative to the euro and Swiss franc. The dollar rose 0.4% against the Australian dollar, 0.3% versus the Canadian and New Zealand dollars, and 0.2% against Mexico’s peso. Ten year […] More
Dollar and Bond Yields Down, Gold Up, Foreign Stocks Mostly Down, But U.S. Stocks Up
April 24, 2025
The DXY weighted dollar index fell 0.5% overnight on slides of 0.7% against the yen, 0.6% versus the euro and Swiss franc, and 0.5% relative to sterling. This day, however, has seen a lower dollar correlated with lower sovereign debt yields as well, including drops of seven basis points in Italy, six bps in France […] More
A Better Financial Market Mood to Start Shortened Week
November 25, 2024
Markets liked Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, for the cabinet post of treasury secretary. Tangentially, there’s more confidence that the Fed will cut rates next month, and reports of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon also helped the mood. The Russell 2000 hit a record high. The DOW is up […] More
Some Upbeat U.S. Data Gives Pause to Speculation that Fed Might Cut Rate by as Much as Half Percentage Point in September
August 26, 2024
A 9.9% leap in U.S. durable goods orders in July was twice analyst expectations and more than reversed June’s 6.9% retrenchment. Core non-defense orders for capital goods other than aircraft actually dipped 0.1%, however. Separately, the Dallas Fed’s monthly survey of manufacturers rose sharply to a 19-month high in August. The U.S. data stalled the […] More
Softer German Business Climate, Unchanged Indonesian Interest Rate and Day 1 of FOMC Policy Meeting
July 25, 2023
World financial markets were comparatively calm overnight as investors await tomorrow’s FOMC interest rate announcement and press conference. The dollar edged up 0.2% versus the euro and 0.1% against the Canadian dollar overnight, held steady against the Swiss franc, Japanese yen, and New Zealand dollar, and fell 0.6% relative to the Chinese yuan, 0.4% vis-a-vis […] More
Assessing the Situation in Russia and What It Portends for Global Growth and Inflation
June 26, 2023
U.S. stock futures this Monday are effectively unchanged. Investors are uncertain if the aborted coup in Russia will endure and how the global economy will be affected by Russian political instability. Share prices closed down by 1.5% in China, 0.9% in New Zealand, 0.8% in Taiwan, 0.5% in Hong Kong and South Korea, and 0.3% in […] More
Higher Equities, Weaker Bonds, and a Mixed Dollar
March 27, 2023
The tone of equities began weakly overnight in Asia where share prices closed down 1.8% in Hong Kkong, 0.8% in Indonesia, 0.5% in Taiwan and 0.4% in China but brightened in Europe and U.S. stock futures. The German, French, British, Italian and Spanish stock exchanges currently show gains of 0.9% or more this Monday, and […] More
Record Low in Sterling and Other Financial Market Extremes
September 26, 2022
The British pound plunged overnight to an intra-day and all-time low of $1.0327. That’s down 25% from a 52-week high on October 20, 2021 and below the previous record low of $1.0345 in early 1985. Back then in an all-out fight to avoid the humiliation of sterling dropping below dollar parity, the Bank of England […] More
