IFO German business climate index
Several Reassuring Developments
March 25, 2019
Last Friday had been a brutally difficult day in financial markets after the U.S. 3-month T-bill rate moved above the 10-year Treasury note yield for the first time since the Great Recession. Monday has seen reassuring news on several fronts but not before share prices in the Pacific Rim tumbled 3.0% in Japan, 2.3% in […] More
A Commodities Cloud Over World Financial Markets
April 25, 2016
The prices of crude oil (WTI down 1.3% to $43.16) and many industrial metals have fallen at the start of the new week, leading to a risk averse mood. Gold is steady at $1,233.15 per ounce. Equities in Asia lost 0.8% in Japan, 0.4% in China, 1.2% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in Singapore, 0.7% in […] More
Muted Market Reaction to European Bank Stress Test Results
October 27, 2014
The stress test results were officially announced Sunday but largely leaked on Friday and hence did not carry an element of surprise. Moreover, no German, French or Spanish banks were listed, and about three-fourths of the collective extra capital needed to be raised by banks has been done. The dollar is unchanged against the euro, […] More
Little Reaction to Unexpected Data Results
March 25, 2014
The German IFO Institute business climate index fell in March for the first time since October and by more than forecast. Such printed at a two-month low of 110.7 after 111.3 in February. While current conditions went up 0.8 points, business expectations fell 1.9 points to a 5-month low of 106.4. The biggest adverse swing […] More
Watching G20 Talks and French Election
April 20, 2012
Finance ministers and central bank leaders from the Group of Twenty meeting in Washington are talking mostly about the euro debt crisis. The first round of French Presidential elections on Sunday is expected to set up a run-off contest on May 6 between the incumbent center-right Sarkozy and the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande. The term […] More
