U.S. trade deficit
Equity Market Losses and Dollar Trims This Week’s Gains
June 26, 2026
Tech stocks were spooked today by further evidence that AI development is costing as well as reports that OpenAI’s IPO may be delayed until next year. In futures trading, All four major U.S. equity indices are off, led by a 1.2% drop in the Nasdaq. Asian stock markets plunged 4.2% in Japan, 3.8% in South […] More
Sino-Japanese Geopolitical Tensions Reflected in Weak Yen and Nikkei Losses
November 19, 2025
Ramifications continued on Wednesday from Prime Minister Takaichi’s parliamentary comment that Chinese steps to seize control of Taiwan could elicit a military response from Japan. That insinuation during a Q&A session led to a forceful verbal response from Beijing officials. The yen fell another 0.4% overnight against the dollar and at 156.2 has depreciated by […] More
U.S. Trade Deficit Surprise
February 28, 2025
Financial markets around the world had been looking ahead all this week to today’s U.S. January report of personal income, consumption and PCE price deflator, which is the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation measure. As things turned out, the price index arrived pretty much as investors had been expecting. The overall PCE deflator’s 12-month rate of […] More
Confusion Over Trump’s Tariff Plans
January 7, 2025
On a day with some meaningful economic data reports — such as Euroland inflation, unemployment and construction sector activity, U.S. trade deficit and JOLTS labor market data, British same-store sales and construction PMI, and Chinese reserves — financial market attention got hijacked and whipsawed by conflicting comments about the tariff plans of President-Elect Trump. The […] More
Financial Market Risk Aversion Persisting
September 4, 2024
Equity markets slumped today by 4.5% in Taiwan, 4.2% in Japan, 3.2% in South Korea, 1.1% in Singapore and Hong Kong, and 0.7% in China. Major European stock markets are down around 0.5-1.0%, and U.S. futures point to a further decline, led by the tech sector. Nvdia, for instance, shows a pre-market slide of 2.1%. […] More
Mulling Service-Sector PMI Results and Waiting for the ECB Rate Hike
May 4, 2023
The dollar is modestly softer this Thursday, with drops of 0.2% against the yen and 0.1% versus the euro, Canadian dollar, and sterling. Ten-year sovereign debt yields have risen six basis points in Italy, 4 basis points in Spain, 2 basis points in Germany and the United States and a basis point in Great Britain. […] More
Takeaways from Today’s U.S. Data Releases
January 26, 2023
Quarterly U.S. real GDP growth of 2.9% annualized in the final quarter slightly exceeded expectations and was only marginally slower than the third quarter’s 3.2% pace. Despite back-to-back contractions of 1.6% in 1Q and 0.6% in 2Q, GDP still managed to expand on average by 2.1% in 2022 after the prior year’s rebound of 5.9%. […] More
Escalating Financial and Political Chaos in Ukraine and Russia, and Rest of World Feeling Pain, Too
February 28, 2022
Ukrainian and Russian talks in Belarus are unlikely to defuse the military conflict. Russian President Putin seeks to replace Ukraine’s government and has insinuated that he may use nuclear weapons if Nato doesn’t back off. In this high stakes game game of chicken, Nato allies seek to decapitate the Russian ruble and financial markets and […] More
Continuing Market Reverberations from FOMC Minutes
January 6, 2022
FOMC minutes released yesterday afternoon, which served notice that the federal funds rate is likely to rise further in 2022 than implied earlier and that central bank balance sheet reduction will commence sooner too, have helped allay concerns that monetary officials are treating the threat of inflation too lightly. Given this change, investors on the […] More
U.S. Sets Records for Monthly Trade Deficit and Number of New Covid Cases
December 29, 2021
With 2021 winding down, the dollar settled back overnight by 0.3% overnight against sterling and peso and by 0.2% relative to the euro, Swissie, Australian dollar, kiwi, and weighted DXY index. However, 2021 has been a robust year for the dollar, which sports a 7% weighted on-year advance. Identified cases of Covid are busting out […] More
