In the U.S., markets that ended last year on a high note keep hitting new highs this year. The S&P index ended 2019 up 28.6 percent, its best year since 2013 and one of its best in more than 20 years. The NASDAQ was up 35 percent, its best performance in six years. Small-cap stocks...
Citing 2019’s world economic performance as “the feeblest since the global financial crisis,” this month the World Bank reduced its economic forecasts through 2022. The bank sees U.S. growth dropping below 2 percent due to unpredictable trade policies restraining investment and the costs that U.S. tariffs add to goods. Europe’s economy will grow by only...
Despite the European Central Bank (ECB) dumping cheap money into the region’s economy last September when it sent interest rates deeper into negative territory – to -0.5 percent from -0.4 – and revived its €2.6 trillion bond-buying program, it’s not working. Germany, Europe’s largest and strongest economy, is expected to grow just 0.5 percent for...
As China’s economic growth rate tumbled to a 30-year low in 2019, corporate loan defaults surged to $18.6 billion, compared to $12.2 billion the year before. The largest group of sour loans is among corporations that borrowed heavily to grow rapidly during China’s recent expansion. Many government-owned companies are faring no better. Last November, Tewoo,...
Despite record low interest rates of 1.25 percent and a previous government’s fiscal stimulus, South Korea’s economy hasn’t moved out of the slow lane. The exporter nation is expected to post a 2 percent growth rate for 2019, its worst record in a decade. South Korea’s economy has taken hits from China’s weakness and a...
While the developed equity markets registered strong gains, emerging market indexes remained weak. The MSCI EM Index, which tracks these lesser-known markets, has gained just 47 percent since 2009, compared to the MSCI World Index, which gained more than triple that amount during the same period. The World Bank cites a litany of issues stifling...
Following up on the 7 January Trends Journal Special Report detailing the U.S. assassination of Iran’s General Qassim Soleimani, the next day, Iran responded by firing over a dozen missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops. There were no deaths, nor any major casualties. It was reported that Iran provided advanced notice of the...
The Hong Kong protests, now in their seventh month, show no signs of abating. And with the November local election bringing in 87 percent of candidates who are anti-Beijing and pro-democracy, the Chinese government is taking measures to reign in the movement. Last weekend, the Chinese government’s top representative in Hong Kong was replaced with...
The longest strike in France since 1986 is now over a month long and shows no signs of losing strength. On New Year’s Eve, French President Emmanuel Macron made a plea for compromise to unions in their negotiations with the government over proposed changes in the country’s pension system. The response to the speech by...
Hundreds of thousands continue to protest throughout India against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new citizenship law. The act specifically makes religion a basis of citizenship, which is considered by the protesters a direct violation of India’s secular constitution. The bill specifically excludes Muslims, of which there are over 200 million living in India, from rights...