U.S. PPI
Fresh Wave of Concern Surrounding Financial Institutions
March 15, 2023
Equities had rebounded Tuesday following U.S. government measures to protect depositors and amid a slew of reassuring comments from the experts that 2023 is not 2008. In Asia overnight, stock markets had climbed 1.5% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in Singapore, 1.3% in South Korea, and 0.6% in China where growth in retail sales (+3.5% year-on-year […] More
Week Ends With a Disappointing U.S. Producer Price Report
December 9, 2022
Some Asian stock markets continued to rally on China’s announced relaxation of Covid restraint measures, which lessens a significant demand depressant in that key economy, but financial markets elsewhere around the world continue to fret over stagflation and the tightening of monetary policies. Next week will be the last one of 2022 before year-end conditions […] More
Fresh Developments Driving Investor Hopes
November 15, 2022
Equities in the Pacific Rim rose by 4.1% in Hong Kong, 2.6% in Taiwan, and 1.6% in China as yesterday’s talks between the presidents of the United States and China went as well as could have been expected considering their government’s significant differences. The South Korean Kospi rose only 0.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.1%. […] More
Dollar Hits New 21st Century High against the Yen, Falls Back 0.8% versus Sterling, and Otherwise Generally Stable
October 12, 2022
The yen touched a new 24-year low of 146.67 per dollar overnight. The Bank of Japan’s continuing negative short-term interest rate stands apart from other central bank policies. Direct currency market intervention can do only so much to limit the yen’s weakness. Japanese data reported this Wednesday showed a 4.3% on-year increase in machine tool […] More
Revolting Developments but the Dollar Rally Plays On and Central Bankers Scramble to Catch Up
July 14, 2022
Not for the first time this year, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s candid remarks about a deteriorating global economic outlook has fanned investors’ flight to safety. The litany of problems includes soaring inflation, tighter monetary policies, Russia’s relentless destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, other geopolitical tensions, and weakening business and consumer confidence. He could have added […] More
Dollar Well-Bid Ahead of Tomorrow’s FOMC Rate Hike and Today’s PPI Report
June 14, 2022
The weighted dollar is trading just a tad below’s yesterday’s strongest reading since November 2002. Compared to closing levels in NY on Monday, the dollar has strengthened 0.5% against sterling and Mexican peso, 0.4% versus the Australian dollar, 0.3% relative to the Canadian dollar, 0.2% versus the kiwi, and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Japanese yen. The […] More
Intensifying Global Risk Aversion
May 12, 2022
Equities hit an air pocket on Thursday in the Pacific Rim and Europe, closing down 2.2% in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 3.2% lower in Indonesia, and off 1.8% in Japan and Australia, 2.1% in India, 1.6% in South Korea and 1.9% in Singapore. Share price declines of 2.0% or more have so far occurred in […] More
Rising Inflation Lifts Interest Rates, the Dollar and the Price of Gold
April 13, 2022
The hope is that March might see inflation crest, but investors have heard that story before only to be disappointed. Fresh on the heals of yesterday’s U.S. March CPI data (a 483-month high of 8.5% in the total index and a 475-month 6.5% high of core CPI), U.S. producer price data arrive today. The Federal […] More
Stagflation Breezes this Ides of March
March 15, 2022
Concerns that China will pay a price for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a huge rout in the Shanghai equity exchange, which tumbled 5.6% today, as in its vassal Hong Kong, the Hang Seng plunged by a similar 5.7%. Equities also closed down 2.0% in Taiwan, 1.3% in India and 0.7% in Australia. […] More
The Fact of Inflation Persistence is More Certain than Russia’s Claim to Be Partially Pulling Troops Back from the Russian Border
February 15, 2022
Stock markets rebounded Tuesday on reports out of Russia that some military forces at the border with Ukraine will be pulled back. President Putin’s real intentions remain to be seen. Nonetheless, Putin wasn’t expected to flinch, so the unexpected nature of his action triggered an initial sigh of relief from investors. Prices of WTI oil […] More
