Swiss CPI
Head-Scratching Time as Financial Markets Emerge from Inconclusive War in Fine Shape, Await June Jobs Data and Take in America’s Semiquincentennial Milestone
July 2, 2026
The dollar gave back a little ground overnight but remains elevated in the context of this century’s general experience. The U.S. currency lost 0.7% against the yen but remains close to a four-decade peak. The euro edged up 0.2% but is closer to its all-time low of $0.8230 touched in 2000 than the high of […] More
Trump Speech Sends Shock Waves Through World Financial Markets
April 2, 2026
The highly anticipated update from President Trump in prime time last evening failed to clarify the big questions of when the Middle East war might end, when or exactly how shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz might resume, what Iranian government would be in place after military fighting ends, and what kind of U.S. […] More
Waiting for a Clarifying Ruling of U.S. Tariff Policy and This Month’s Fed Interest Rate Decision
September 4, 2025
U.S. President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to rule very quickly and overturn the recent Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that much of his tariff policy changes had overstepped his authority. Tariff hikes are central to the president’s foreign policy and as a generator of vast federal revenues that he promises will […] More
South Korean Won Seizes Foreign Exchange Market Spotlight
December 3, 2024
The U.S. dollar jumped 2.4% overnight against the South Korean won after President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose term began in May 2022, declared martial law in the face of an increasingly dysfunctional legislature and the threat of his own impeachment. At today’s low of 1,438 won per dollar, the Korean currency had dropped 9% since […] More
Festering Concerns
October 3, 2024
It’s getting harder for investors to overlook the coming U.S. election, now less than five weeks away and still fraught with uncertainty. A strike of U.S. dockworkers along the Gulf and Eastern seaboards could not have come at a more awkward time. The possibility of a full-blown, multi-front war in the Middle East sucking in […] More
Better Market Tone Than Earlier This Week
April 4, 2024
There’s an old adage not to bet against the central bank. Market participants earlier this week had been unnerved by fears that disinflation is stalling amid improving aggregate demand. Yesterday’s speech at Stanford University by Fed Chairman Powell depicted essentially unchanged forward policy guidance. The precise path of the federal funds target may be currently […] More
Hotter-than-Predicted U.S. CPI Data Elicit Adverse Market Reaction
February 13, 2024
U.S. consumer price inflation unexpectedly remained above 3.0% in January. A 0.3% monthly increase was the most since September, and the 12-month rate of increased slowed less sharply than forecast, returning to November’s 5-month low of 3.1% but showing no net improvement since 3.0% recorded last June. U.S. core consumer prices, which exclude food and […] More
Fitch’s Downgrade of the U.S. Debt Rating Pushes Long-Term Interest Rates Higher
August 3, 2023
In the wake of the announced downgrading of U.S. government debt and amid doubts about a coming recession, the 10-year Treasury yield rose nine basis points overnight and touched a high of 4.18%, which compares to 3.31% just over four months ago. 4.18% is the highest level since early last November. Other 10-year sovereign debt […] More
Further Yen Softness
February 13, 2023
In April Japan will be getting its first new governor in a decade, creating a convenient opportunity for an inflection point in the central bank’s ultra-easy monetary policy, which has been out of step with tighter stances adopted in other developed economies as well as developing ones. Nonetheless, the initial comments from the incoming governor, […] More
Dollar Mixed, Stocks Down in Europe and Asia, Oil Up But Sovereign Debt Yields Sharply Lower
October 3, 2022
On this first trading day of the fourth quarter, the dollar fell 1.3%, 0.9%, 0.7% and 0.4% against the kiwi, Aussie dollar, loonie, and sterling but rose by 0.4%, against the euro, 0.2% versus the Swiss franc and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Japanese yen. China is closed most of this week. Stock markets sank 1.1% in […] More
