Top Trend: New World Disorder TOP TREND, NEW WORLD DISORDER: WAGES DOWN IN EUROPE AND ITS GETTING WORSE Europeans’ purchasing power is falling faster than their U.S. counterparts as the Ukraine war has a more direct impact on the continent’s economy, driving food and fuel prices steadily higher than wages, The Wall Street Journal reported....
Author: support
Post
NORWAY’S CENTRAL BANK LIFTS INTEREST RATE BY A HALF-POINT
On 23 June, Norges Bank boosted its base interest rate by a half-point for the first time in almost 20 years, lifting it to 1.25 percent. “Prospects for a more prolonged period of high inflation suggest a faster rise in the policy rate than projected earlier,” bank governor Ida Bache said in a statement announcing...
Post
RATES TO SAIL GOODS FROM CHINA TO U.S. FALL BY A THIRD
The cost to send a cargo container from China to the U.S. west coast stood at $9,585 in mid-June, 34 percent lower than at the beginning of 2022 and half of what it was a year ago, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. However, the cost is still four times the June 2020 rate. The...
Post
COPPER PRICES FALL ON RECESSION FEARS
As of 23 June, copper prices had fallen 14 percent this year to end at $8,387 a ton, the Financial Times reported, as fears of a recession deflated the outlook for industrial metals. As we have previously noted, copper is often referred to as “Dr. Copper” because it is reputed to have a Ph.D. in...
Post
FOREIGN INVESTORS HOARD DOLLARS
Investors who live outside the U.S. are selling their dollar-denominated stocks and bonds amid the range of market uncertainties and piling up dollars in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Investors hoarding dollars has sent the buck’s value close to records against other major currencies, the WSJ said. The WSJ Dollar Index, which values the...
Post
SPOTLIGHT: WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees. To illustrate the employment trends and the socioeconomic implications, each week we will list job losses. Some of the most notable are in the growth stock sectors, which just a few months ago were pushing for more employees but are...
Post
“CHAOS” UNLESS EUROPE DRAFTS A GAS ALLOCATION PLAN
European solidarity will unravel if Russia cuts off its natural gas exports to the continent and European governments lack a plan for sharing fuel, Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE, Germany’s largest power company, said last week in a Financial Times interview. Germany and the Netherlands have terminals to import liquefied natural gas and could be...
Post
REAL ESTATE MARKETS DOWN AS INTEREST RATES RISE
No surprise! Rising interest rates and global economic uncertainty have left real estate markets skidding. “The change in the cost of debt is having a big impact on all markets, across everything,” Chris Brett, a capital markets manager at real estate consulting firm CBRE, told the Financial Times. “The speed has taken us all by...
Post
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK HEADS WARN ON PERSISTENT INFLATION
Businesses and households in France and Germany increasingly believe that inflation will remain higher longer than they did six months ago, according to surveys by the Bundesbank and Banque de France. Germans expect inflation to average 5.3 percent annually for the next five years, the poll found. A previous poll reported the expectation at below...
Post
TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: EUROPEAN, U.S. ECONOMIES DRAG THROUGH JUNE
Economic activity in Europe and the U.S. braked sharply in June as food and fuel prices continued their relentless rise and central banks raised rates yet again. The S&P Global purchasing managers index (PMI) for manufacturing slipped from 53.6 in May to 51.2 this month, a five-month low. Europe’s manufacturing PMI registered 51.9 in June,...