U.S. import prices
Dollar Strengthens to 2024 High
April 12, 2024
Fear that Iran is going to attack Israel is augmenting economic factors strengthening the dollar, which climbed 0.7% on a weighted basis to its strongest point since November. Today’s release of U.S. import price data also buoyed the U.S. currency. Import price gains in March of 0.4% both on month and year-on-year exceeded expectations. Import […] More
Turmoil in the Mideast and U.S. House of Representatives Buoys Oil and Gold but Depresses Equities and Long-Term Interest rates
October 13, 2023
Price figures continued to dominate the menu of economic data releases on Friday. Markets averted riskier assets, amid disarray in the U.S. Congress and as fears mount of catastrophic warfare in the Mideast. The Monetary Authority of Singapore left its policy stance unchanged. Equity markets fell 2.3% in Hong Kong, 1.0% in Singapore and South […] More
Several Significant Developments for Investors to Process
August 15, 2023
Chinese July data have deepened concerns about the world’s second largest economy. Weaker-than-anticipated on-year growth in China’s retail sales of 2.5% was down from 8.2% in the first half of 2023. Industrial production growth of 3.7% year-on-year also undershot expectations. The unemployment rate edged up to a 4-month high of 5.3%, and fixed asset investment […] More
Another Week Has Passed With Little Progress in the U.S. Debt Limit Stalemate
May 12, 2023
Debt talks that were to have occurred today have been reportedly postponed. The debt limit sword hanging over financial markets is taking a toll on sentiment, but markets are acting more like a dripping faucet than a broken water main. Equities had a down week, including overnight losses of 1.1% in China, 0.7% in Indonesia […] More
Equity Slide Gets Extended
February 17, 2023
After decelerating in many countries during the final months of 2022, inflationary pressures intensified last month, and it didn’t take long for U.S. monetary officials to ramp up the projected path of interest rate hikes during the first half of this year. Federal Reserve District Presidents Mester of Cleveland and Bullard of St. Louis each […] More
Awaiting FOMC and Digesting Japanese Tankan and Released Price Data
December 14, 2022
The last scheduled FOMC meeting of 2022 will release a statement at 19:00 GMT. It will be accompanied by updated forecasts and followed by Chairman Powell’s press conference that starts at 19:30 GMT (14:30 EST). Street estimates center on a half percentage point interest rate hike today. In overnight trading the dollar has dropped 0.6% […] More
Dollar Closing August’s Second Week on an Up Note
August 12, 2022
Prior to the release of U.S. import price data, the dollar was showing overnight gains of 0.6% against the yen and sterling, 0.5% versus the DXY weighted index, 0.4% relative to the euro and 0.3% vis-a-vis the Aussie dollar. A number of factors are supporting the dollar: lessened inflation concerns after reports of lower-than-forecast CPI […] More
Investor Bottom-Fishing
May 13, 2022
Within bear markets, brief interruptions happen typically as investors pause to take in the carnage and test markets to see if perhaps enough has been lost to secure a trend reversal. Today’s been one such instance. Share prices rose in Pacific Basin markets by 2.7% in Hong Kong, 2.6% in Japan, 2.1% in South Korea, […] More
Inflation Stays in the Spotlight
August 13, 2021
Quite a few indicators of inflation were released this Friday, among which July U.S. import prices caught the most attention. Import prices had posted monthly advances of at least 0.9% in each of the previous seven months but went up just 0.3% in July. This reduced year-on-year import price inflation by a full percentage point […] More
Stressful Day that Includes the Biden-Putin Talks in Geneva, an FOMC Policy Meeting in Washington, and an Assortment of Meaningful Data Releases
June 16, 2021
The Biden-Putin summit is underway and expected to last around five hours. The U.S. political leaders will then hold separate individual press conferences rather than a joint event. The Federal Open Market Committee is not expected to change monetary policy settings but could for the first time indicate that it’s not too early to begin […] More
