Japanese household spending
Case Keeps Rising for Early Rise in Fed’s Interest Rate
January 7, 2022
The case is growing for an FOMC rate hike in March. From a monetary policy standpoint, Fed officials are expected to pay more attention to faster-than-expected wage growth and lower-than-forecast unemployment last month than to December’s 199k rise in jobs, which was only half as much as predicted. For one thing, employment growth in October-November […] More
Dollar and Equity Markets Extend Recoveries
December 7, 2021
Identified Covid cases in America are zeroing in on the 50 million level since the start of the pandemic, including almost 119k cases yesterday. But there has been a sense of relief in the absence so far of evidence that the Omicron Variant will be associated with higher rates of hospitalization or deaths. Investors are […] More
Marking Time Ahead of U.S. Monthly Jobs Report
June 4, 2021
Financial markets were marking time overnight. The dollar was virtually unchanged but at multi-week highs, with no net movement against its DXY weighted index, a dip of 0.2% versus the yen and a 0.1% uptick relative to the euro. The price of gold was flat, while that of WTI oil had firmed merely 0.2%. U.S. […] More
Persistent Inflation Concerns Upsetting Equity Markets and Dollar to Lesser Extent
May 11, 2021
A sampling of Asian stock markets suffered loses Tuesday of 3.8% in Taiwan, 3.1% in Japan, 2.0% in Hong Kong, and 1.2% in Singapore and South Korea. Australia’s market fell 1.1%, and in Europe, markets are down currently by between 1.4% and 2.3% in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, the U.K. and Germany. Technology stocks have […] More
Risk Aversion Rekindled by Downbeat Economic Forecast and Data as Well as Covid-19’s Relentless Spread
July 7, 2020
Major stock markets in Europe show losses so far today of 1.2% in the U.K. and Germany and 1.0% in France and Spain. Equities closed down 1.4% in Hong Kong, 1.1% in South Korea and Singapore, and 0.4% in Japan. U.S. futures suggest that at least half of Monday’s strong rise in equity prices will […] More
Bigger Risk Appetite of Monday Continues
April 7, 2020
Share prices in Asia closed up 9.0% in India, 4.1% in Singapore, 2.1% in China and Hong Kong, 2.0% in Japan and 1.8% in South Korea and Taiwan. Equity markets so far in Europe show additional gains today of 4.3% in Italy, 4.0% in Germany, 3.1% in France, 3.5% in Spain and 3.0% in the […] More
Markets Turning Increasingly Disorderly
March 6, 2020
Share prices are down over 3.0% in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland even though a decent U.S. labor market report is anticipated. Equity markets in the Pacific Rim closed down 2.7% in Japan, 2.8% in Australia, 2.5% in Indonesia, 2.3% in India, 2.2% in South Korea, 2.0% in New Zealand and 1.9% […] More
Many Industrial Production Reports as Well as U.S. Jobs Day
January 10, 2020
Markets marked time ahead of the U.S. December labor market statistics. The dollar didn’t react much afterward, either. As of 08:10 EST, the dollar was up 0.2% against the Swiss franc and 0.1% relative to the euro and yen. The greenback was unchanged vis-a-vis the loonie and kiwi but down by 0.3% against the peso […] More
Softer Dollar but Higher Share Prices
August 7, 2018
The dollar softened overnight by 0.6% against the Aussie dollar, 0.4% relative to the yuan and euro, 0.3% vis-a-vis the peso, loonie and kiwi, 0.2% versus the yen and Swiss franc, and 0.1% against sterling. Share prices climbed 2.7% in China, 2.0% in Hong Kong, 0.7% in Japan, and 0.6% in South Korea. Equities in […] More
Japanese and U.S. Data Dominate Tuesday News
December 27, 2016
Core Japanese consumer price inflation remained at -0.4% in November, but Tokyo’s core rate of deflation was -0.6% in December, a new extreme for 2016. Energy price deflation is lessening, but overall price data are not responding commensurately. The Japanese jobless rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 3.1% in November. Employment grew 1.1% on […] More