manufacturing purchasing manager surveys
Hawkish Sign from Bank of Japan and a Sluggish Sign in U.S. Manufacturing
December 1, 2025
(163) The final month of 2025 kicked off with two concerning pieces of news to risk-taking investors. The first impulse came from a speech by Bank of Japan Governor Ueda that more convincingly than previous signals suggests that officials will raise the bank’s short-term interest rate by another 25 basis points at the upcoming policy […] More
New Month Beckons With Continuing U.S. Federal Shutdown, October Batch of Manufacturing PMI Surveys, Some Price Data and a Japanese Holiday Closure
November 3, 2025
(167) Economic pain from the unresolved 5-week-old U.S. federal government shutdown is expected to intensify in early November. On this first business day of November, manufacturing purchasing manager surveys have been reported for a slew of countries, but Japanese markets are closed for the Culture Day holiday. Two news highlights today are President Trump’s disclosure […] More
Lessening Recession Fears in Spite of Persistent Downside Risks
May 2, 2025
A discernible sigh of relief could be heard in the markets after April’s surprisingly healthy U.S. labor situation report. Other lifts came from a 1.7% drop in the price of West Texas Intermediate oil and European manufacturing purchasing manager surveys. Key U.S. stock market indices are up by 1-1.3%, which have correlated this time with […] More
The New Year’s Opening Act
January 2, 2025
Year 2025 in America kicked off with a terrorist act in the deep south city of New Orleans and news of a second straight double-digit decline in U.S. mortgage applications, yet pre-open stock futures point to a rebound from last week’s decline. The dollar also made gains, touching its strongest weighted level in 25 months. […] More
Dollar Up Slightly Ahead of U.S. Jobs Data and Tuesday’s Election
November 1, 2024
U.S. opinion polls continue to reflect a tight presidential race but investors believe Trump will be the winner. The consensus of economic analysts ahead of the Labor Dept employment situation October report, due shortly, is that the U.S. likely gained around 120k new jobs, with unemployment holding at 4.1% and wage growth hovering around 4.0%. […] More
Dollar Steps Up as Final Quarter of 2024 Begins
October 1, 2024
Remarks by Fed Chairman Powell yesterday afternoon countered mounting speculation of another 50-basis point rate cut, offering the alternative of two 25-bp moves before yearend as a far likelier scenario. In response, the dollar rebounded overnight by 0.4% against the euro, sterling and kiwi, 0.2% versus the yuan, and 0.1% against the yen, Swiss franc […] More
May Day and the FOMC
May 1, 2024
Financial markets are shut in a slew of countries — but not in the U.K., Japan or the United States — for May Day observances that extol the rights of workers. The dollar is modestly higher. Japanese officials have not confirmed nor denied yesterday’s strongly suspected intervention triggered after the yen fell to as low […] More
September Kicks Off With a Mix of Better-than-Expected and Weaker-than-Expected Data
September 1, 2023
The dollar’s been well bid today, with gains of 0.6% against the Australian currency and Mexican peso, 0.5% versus the euro, sterling, yen, loonie, and ruble, 0.4% relative to the kiwi, and 0.2% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc. The price of oil jumped another 1.7%, while that of bitcoin declined 0.3%. Ten-year sovereign debt yields were […] More
June PMI Reports Put Spotlight on Deteriorating Factory Conditions Around the World
July 3, 2023
The observance of Canada Day and tomorrow’s Independence Day holiday in the United States will deprive market activity in the early part of this week. U.S. stock futures are little changed from Friday’s elevated closing levels. Share prices in Europe are similarly quite steady, whereas Asian markets took their lead from Friday’s rally, with gains […] More
Uneven Start to 2023 as Some, but Not All, Countries Observe Holiday
January 2, 2023
Although the most widely observed holiday closure of the calendar year, New Year’s Day in 2023 fell on a Sunday. The holiday has been extended to Monday in many countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Switzerland, South Africa, Nigeria and much of Africa, Serbia, Romania, Slovenia, Ireland, Lebanon, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Japan, Hong […] More
