U.S. GDP growth
Lots of Data and Some Other Surprising Developments
February 28, 2024
Michigan voters, whose support was critical to Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, dealt him a big setback in yesterday’s Democratic Party primary. Almost 101k voters made an organized protest against U.S. military support for Israel by casting an “uncommitted ballot. In addition to votes for Williamson and Phillips, that meant that almost 1 in 5 […] More
Data and Central Bank Meetings Both in Thursday’s Spotlight
January 25, 2024
The U.S. dollar has been generally steady, however, with overnight upticks of 0.3% against the Swiss franc and 0.1% relative to the euro but 0.1% downticks versus sterling and the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars. U.S. stock futures are also flat. Major continental stock markets are down 0.5-1.1%, pending the ECB rate announcement and […] More
Thursday’s Focus Turns to Central Banks
May 26, 2022
The dollar slid overnight by 0.2% against the euro, yen, sterling, and Mexican peso and by 0.1% versus the Swiss franc and on a weighted basis. Alternatively the U.S. currency advanced 0.6% relative to the Chinese yuan, 0.3% relative to the Russian ruble, and 0.2% vis-a-vis the Turkish lira. The kiwi, Aussie dollar and Canadian […] More
Differentiated Growth and Covid Prospects According to Efficiency of Vaccine Roll-Outs
March 25, 2021
The dollar has been taking its cue lately from vaccine news. The United States has handled the roll-out much better the Europe. Britain had been getting vaccinated at a good clip, too, but now faces a possible EU ban of vaccine exports to the U.K.. Japan’s Covid spread has also picked up lately. The proliferation […] More
Many Data Released Today as Inflation fears Continue
February 25, 2021
Shortly before today’s release of U.S. economic data, 10-year sovereign debt yields were showing considerable increases (for example, 8 basis points in the United States and Italy, 12 bps in Canada, 6 bps in Spain and the U.K., 5 bps in Germany and France, and 2 basis points in Japan). The trade-weighted dollar had eased […] More
Awaiting Speeches from Central Bankers
August 27, 2020
The third night of the Republican National Convention was mostly about law and order. The event concludes today with President Trump’s key speech to the party faithful. The message of “law and order” surfaced during the President Nixon’s 1968 successful run for president and has been a basic tenet of Republican campaigns ever since. Law […] More
Lots of Data and an FOMC Meeting to Digest
April 29, 2020
Even with Japanese markets shut for the first of several “Golden Week” holidays, today is a very active day. Euroland economic sentiment, U.S. GDP, and several price statistics head a long list of data releases. Also, the FOMC will announce the conclusions of a scheduled review of monetary policy, which will be followed by a […] More
Stronger Canadian Dollar
June 28, 2018
Today’s major dollar change has been a decline against other North American currencies. The loonie is up 0.7%, as investors have become more confident that the Bank of Canada will raise its interest rate after the July Board meeting. The Mexican peso has also strengthened. Against other currencies, the dollar shows no net change against […] More
Is U.S. Growth Really Strengthening?
March 28, 2018
Although the first derivative of the U.S. economy’s size has been very consistently positive, the answer to the above question is more debatable. In the nearly nine years since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009, real GDP rose in 35 of 36 quarters through end-2017, and the exception was a mere 0.9% annualized on-quarter dip […] More
A Few Observations on the U.S. GDP Report
January 30, 2013
Analysts had anticipated slower economic growth in the final quarter of 2012 but not a 0.1% annualized contraction of GDP. The politician/layman’s definition of a recession requires two straight quarters in which real GDP shrinks. The more technical requirements of the economists entrusted with dating economic downturns looks at monthly data for such things as […] More
