Much has been made of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to the UK. Amid all the fanfare, both countries have hailed it as the dawn of a “golden era” of relations. While the benefits seem clear to the UK, which seeks Chinese investment in a number of key infrastructure projects, what is golden for China about the visit?
Japan’s trade balance was worse than expected in September. It posted a JPY114.
The World Bank said this week that the world is capable of ending global poverty in the next 15 years, but described this action as “extraordinarily difficult.” If the nations of the world can band together in making difficult decisions to enact growth-stimulating reforms they could eradicate poverty.
Strong calls continue in Washington for the US Navy to increase its freedom of navigation (FON) activities in the South China Sea. This is despite apparent differences of view between the Pentagon and the White House about the wisdom of such action. The US has done little in 2015 to ease concerns about whether it knows what it is doing in the South China Sea. If anything, the rhetoric coming out of the Pentagon and the US Navy in particular, has become stronger.
After World War II and the end of Japanese military expansion, many countries fought for and won their independence in Asia. In 1949, China ended its internal disorder by establishing the People’s Republic of China. The Cold War divided Asia, and these divisions continued until the Soviet Union collapsed. As Asian countries embarked on their own development processes, they began to reshape the region. Economic integration based on market forces gradually extended to more and more economies.
In a surprising development, US congressional Republicans and a few of their business allies now pose the biggest threat to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). With the announcement of the agreement on 5 October, there was no support from a single Republican leader in Congress, nor any broad business federation in the United States. Republican support for the TPP is indispensable since most congressional Democrats oppose it and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just come out against it.
After five years of struggle, the United States, Japan and 10 other economies in Asia and Latin America signed a massive trade pact: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The winners are obvious: US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as, arguably, the US and Japanese economies. Obama can leave office with a strong demonstration of the US pivot to Asia and Abe can finally argue that the third arrow of his Abenomics program is not empty.
From the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to raise interest rates in September, through the soft employment and retail sales report, and two Fed Governors arguing against a rate hike this year, the pendulum of expectations has swung hard. The implied yield of the Fed funds futures does not rise above 37.5 bp, ostensibly the middle of the target range following a rate hike, until July 2016. Barring a contraction in the US economy or deflation in core measures of inflation, it is difficult to envision a shift out in expectations.
The US dollar turned in a mixed performance last week. It recovered in the second half of the week against the euro and yen. It was an unusual week in that the New Zealand dollar was the strongest of the major currencies, gaining 1.8% against the US dollar, while the Australian dollar was the weakest, losing almost 1% against the greenback.
People who become homeless as a child are more likely to have lower employment rates in adulthood than those who become homeless later, according to new research showing the economic and social costs of homelessness.
Nearly one fifth of homeless people in Australia are children under the age of 12 attached to a homeless family, according to ABS data. This fraction includes forms of homelessness such as living on a friend or family member’s couch or in temporary accommodation, all considered insecure or inadequate living conditions.
