CHINA’S COVID LOCKDOWN HARMS DOMESTIC, GLOBAL ECONOMIES Adidas, Intercontinental Hotels Group, and Starbucks are among the multinational firms that have seen revenues sink because of China’s draconian anti-COVID lockdowns, which have shut an estimated 325 million people in at least 46 cities into their homes or workplaces for two months. Affected areas include tech hubs...
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COMMODITY FUNDS DREW $38.7 BILLION IN NEW INVESTMENT THIS YEAR
Commodity investment funds have drawn a net inflow of $28.7 billion in new cash this year through 10 May, the Financial Times reported. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI commodity index was up 37 percent this year as of 25 May, even after receding from higher marks in March. In contrast, MSCI’s global equities index has...
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EUROPE’S HOME PRICES WILL FALL, ECB SAYS
It’s the same old story, what goes up, must come down. And weak economic growth and rising inflation is a threat to home sales in the EU. House prices in Europe are poised to decline as interest rates rise in response to record-setting inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) said in its semi-annual financial stability...
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INVESTORS FLEE EMERGING NATIONS’ BONDS AS DEFAULT PROSPECTS RISE
The price of emerging economies’ bonds has cratered, with the benchmark JPMorgan EMBI Global Diversified index falling 15 percent so far this year, its worst performance through late May since 1994, the Financial Times reported. Investors have yanked $36 billion out of developing nations’ bonds so far in 2022, the FT said. “It’s the worst...
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TOP 2022 TREND, SELF-SUFFICIENT ECONOMIES: NATIONS SLASH FOOD EXPORTS
Faced with a toxic combination of global food shortages and rising prices, 26 nations so far have reduced or halted food and fertilizer exports to ensure their citizens have enough and pay the lowest possible prices, the International Food Policy Institute reported. Nations have curbed shipments of beans, corn, lentils, edible oils, sugar, and wheat;...
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BIDEN SAYS SHRINKING DEFICIT WILL REDUCE INFLATION. WILL IT?
Hammered by critics who blame his policies for inflation, president Joe Biden lately has emphasized one way to help bring prices down: cut the annual federal budget deficit. That is “one easy way to ease inflationary pressures in an economy,” he has said in several recent statements. The budget, which soared past $1 trillion during...
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DRIVERS STAY PARKED AS GAS PRICES CLIMB
Demand for gasoline in mid-May fell to 8.8 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, its lowest level since 2013, apart from the plunge during the early months of the COVID War. The average U.S. gas price was $4.61 a gallon on 30 May, the American Automobile Association reported, a record...
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SPOTLIGHT ON REAL ESTATE
Today it was reported that despite rising mortgage rates, home prices rose sharply in the U.S. in March. According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index U.S., home prices shot up 20.6 percent year-to-date. Will prices and home sales drop as mortgage rates rise? It’s a mixed picture. The following is an overview of...
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MAJOR U.S. CITIES CONTINUED TO LOSE POPULATION LAST YEAR
During the 12 months ending 31 July, 2021, the largest U.S. cities lost residents at a faster pace than small and medium-size cities, census bureau data shows. In the nine cities with populations of at least one million people, the number of residents dropped by 1.9 percent. Phoenix and San Antonio were the only two...
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FED OFFICIALS EXPECT AT LEAST TWO MORE HALF-POINT HIKES
After lifting the federal funds rate by a half-point early this month, members of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee foresee doing the same in June and again in July, minutes of their May meeting show. The record shows that members discussed deliberately raising rates high enough to slow economic growth in order to...