Author: support

ABN Amro, a Dutch bank majority-owned by the Dutch government, is conducting the second review in two years of its lending and investment banking practices after a dramatic increase in bad loans. The bank’s profits in 2019’s final quarter were down 43 percent year-on-year and the bank’s share price lost 6 percent last Wednesday after...

Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, contracted by 6.3 percent during the last three months of December, the sharpest contraction since a 7.4-percent hit in the second quarter of 2014. The drop is almost twice the 3.7-percent shrinkage that had been expected. The contraction is being attributed, in part, to last September’s sales tax hike...

The Eurozone’s common currency plunged to its weakest point in two-and-a-half years as investors fled the Eurozone’s sagging economy and the coronavirus scare and took refuge in the dollar. The dollar has been 2020’s strongest currency among the G10 group of nations. The euro sank even further Thursday afternoon when the Trump administration said it...

The Eurozone’s factory output fell 2.1 percent in December, reflecting earlier reports of poor performance in France, Italy, and Germany. The slump was worse than expected. During the first 11 months of 2019, the region’s industrial production fell 4.1 percent, its worst drop since 2012’s sovereign debt crisis. Analysts are revising downward their projections for...

It had nothing to do with the coronavirus. It happened last year. The Eurozone’s economy grew at a rate of 0.1 percent in 2019’s final quarter, a slowdown unmatched since the currency crisis of 2012. The rate blew apart hopes that the region’s economy was beginning to improve. Germany was the greatest disappointment, reporting zero...

Global trade grew at just 1 percent in 2019, down from 4 percent in 2018 and 6 percent in 2017. It was the fourth worst performance in 40 years and the worst ever for a time not in recession. China’s imports fell by $59 billion, the U.S.’s by $42 million during the year. The trade...

With China a vital link in many manufacturing supply chains, the coronavirus’s impact is shaking the global economy. In fact, it is one of the reasons equities have declined three days in a row. Today, Apple, the most valuable company in the U.S., cautioned that it does not expect to meet its quarterly revenue forecast,...

The coronavirus, which has closed factories and businesses across China for weeks, will weaken and already weakening Chinese banks. As much as 6.5 trillion renminbi in loans could go bad if the crisis lasts for months, according to S&P Global Ratings. The default rate could soar from less than 2 percent in December to 6.3,...

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has been paralyzed for more than three weeks. The country has been at a virtual standstill since the New Year holiday ended at the beginning of February. While now getting back to business, much of China’s industry has been shut down, people have steered clear of stores and restaurants, and...

With business investment declining in three out of four quarters in 2019 and industrial production down 0.3 percent in January from the prior month, among the jobs that are growing are in warehousing, trucking, and delivery. Courier and messenger services added 14,300 jobs, expanding for the 11 month in a row. Warehousing and storage added...