UPDATE: TARIFFS STATE OF PLAY: AS DUST SETTLES FOR NOW, BEHEMOTHS CHINA AND USA FACE OFF
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – As U.S stocks rocketed up spectacularly Wednesday after President Trump’s pivot on tariffs, the battle of titans – the USA and China – emerged as the main event for months to come. At an afternoon White House event, President Trump said, “Somebody had to do it,” vs. China. A more skeptical former […]
US TARIFFS STATE OF PLAY: Pres Trump Imposes Massive Global Tariffs Likely to Cause Widespread USA Price Hikes
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Amid much pessimism about severe economic domestic consequences, President Trump Wednesday imposed massive tariffs on several dozen countries including China and the European Union and a blanket 10% levy on all the rest. The Rose Garden announcement shook stock futures into large negatives while interest rates maintained lows last hit in October. […]
StL Fed’s Musalem: Must Lean Against Inflation If Expectations Become Unanchored
– May Have To Leave Rates Unchanged Longer Or Hike Rates If Inflation Worsens By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Although downside risks to the labor market have increased, so have upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations, and such a combination could create a difficult monetary policy dilemma, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President […]
BofA Global Research Fund Manager Survey: Global Investor Sentiment Plunges as Macro Pessimism Surges
–US Equity Allocation Sees Biggest Monthly Drop on Record By Vicki Schmelzer NEW YORK (MaceNews) – A drop in expectations that the U.S. economy will outperform and rising worries about the global economy prompted a “bull crash” in global investor sentiment in March, according to BofA Global Research’s monthly fund manager survey, released Tuesday. When […]
TARIFFS STATE OF PLAY: Trump Tariffs Go Global – A Small Start Compared to What’s Coming
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The new worldwide 25% U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum Wednesday – with no exemptions – piled atop the now 20% levied on China goods, 22 days away from the start of the nation’s far bigger experiment in confrontational trade policy, “reciprocal tariffs.” As expected, retaliatory tariffs also began to accumulate, first […]
Preview: Japan’s Wobbly 3rd Straight Economic Growth Seen Intact in Revised Q4 GDP Data but Sluggish Consumption, Exports Point to Flat Q1 Performance
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Lukewarm economic growth lingered during much of 2024 in Japan after three quarters of drops but consumption is chilled by high living costs and the outlook for the world’s top two economies is clouded by Trump tariffs, pointing to a flat performance in the first quarter of 2025, with the […]
Powell Repeats Economy ‘In Good Place’: FOMC Needn’t Be in Hurry To Ease
– Largely Brushes Off Signs of Softening, Uncertainty For Now – Economy Doesn’t Need Fed to Do Anything: ‘We Can And We Should Wait’ – Other Fed Officials Sounding More Concerned About Economic Outlook By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell continued Friday to say that the Fed need not be […]
ISM: US Services Sector Expands for 8th Straight Month in February While Concerns Over Trump Tariffs Darken Outlook
–ISM Services Index at 53.5 in February Vs. 52.8 in January, Above Median Forecast 52.7–ISM’s Miller: Services PMI Has Been Trending Down but More Stable Now, Points to Sustained Growth on Year–Miller: Jump in ISM February Manufacturing Prices Paid Index Amid Higher Commodities Markets Not Yet Feeding Through to Services Prices By Max Sato (MaceNews) […]
BofA Global Research Fund Manager Survey: Investors Embrace Upbeat World Growth Outlook
–Cash Levels Lowest Since 2010 By Vicki Schmelzer NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Global investors embraced an upbeat world growth outlook in February, as evidenced by the lowest cash level holdings since 2010, according to BofA Global Research’s monthly fund manager survey, released Tuesday. Eighty-two percent of those polled this month said a global recession was […]
UPDATE: Fed Officials Take Cautious Approach to Further Rate Cuts As Late Jan FOMC Nears
– Harker Still Sees Rates Heading Lower; But Now ‘Appropriate To Take A Pause’ – Collins Calls for ‘Patient Approach to Policy’; Cuts Could Go Faster or Slower – Schmid: Funds Rate May Already Be ‘Neutral;’ Favors Further Balance Sheet Shrinkage – Bowman Urges ‘Caution;’ Monetary Policy Not As Restrictive As Some Think By Steven […]