Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

Australia’s dollar struck a ten-year low against U.S. currency last week, dropping another 0.8 percent in one day after new figures showed unemployment edging up. The Aussie is down 15 percent against the U.S. dollar in the past two years, now worth US$0.65 compared to US$0.78 in January 2018. Australia’s two economic bedrocks are commodity...

Samsung, the manufacturer that delivers 12.5 percent of South Korea’s annual GDP and 45 percent of its exports, continues to lay off workers as the number of coronavirus cases passed 1,500 last week, growing thirtyfold in a matter of days. The company, which employs more than 180,000 nationwide, closed one plant after a worker tested...

Budding Chinese businesses were running short of funding because of China’s economic slowdown that began last year. Now the coronavirus has shut down large swathes of Chinese commerce and canceled entrepreneurs’ face-to-face meetings with possible backers. Venture capitalists typically like to meet entrepreneurs personally to get a “feel” for them. Without that personal contact, wallets...

The International Monetary Fund cut its estimate for China’s growth rate this year to 5.6 percent, down from the 6 percent it had forecast in January. About a third of global economic growth is driven by China’s economy, up from just 3 percent in 2000. Also in 2000, China made up 1.2 percent of world...

MTA, a European manufacturer of auto electronics, has shut its plant in Codogno, Italy, and warns if the plant doesn’t reopen quickly its other European factories will halt production, which would stop the assembly lines at BMW, Peugeot, and FiatChrysler factories across the continent. Europe’s carmakers and parts suppliers have relied on stockpiled components to...

In response to the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. has closed its borders to anyone who has visited Iran in the previous 14 days and is warning against travel to South Korea and parts of Italy. The Trump administration also has threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border. The strictures add to the travel industry’s...

Macy’s department store chain reports slowing sales and supplies due in part to the coronavirus. The chain has about 70 stores for which Asians are a significant market. Sales have dropped, but “it’s nothing to be concerned about yet,” said Jeff Gennette, Macy’s CEO. He added that inventory coming from China also has slowed and...

U.S. energy stocks are performing farther below the S&P 500 average than at any time since Japan attacked the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in 1941, according to the Bank of America. Meanwhile, in mid-month, investors rushed to dump energy-related junk bonds, driving borrowing costs for the riskiest companies to their highest since August 2016....

Share prices for many of Europe’s biggest banks closed down as much as 7 percent last week, dropping further than many market indexes hit by the coronavirus scare. Standard Chartered PLC, which focuses on Asia, has warned of new difficulties meeting its 2020 profit targets. It has temporarily halted face-to-face services in many Asian branches,...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3,500 points last week, vaporizing about $6 trillion in investors’ assets. After back-to-back 1,000-point drops during the seven-day rout, stocks last Friday shaved that day’s loss to 356 points, indicating the virus-sparked panic may be fading and confidence cautiously returning. Markets in Europe and Asia lost about 3 percent...