Sales of existing homes are beginning to fall as low interest rates on mortgages fail to entice would-be buyers. Existing-home sales fell 3.4% in October from the prior month, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors. A combination of expensive options, limited inventory growth, and sluggish wage growth has made it hard for Americans to buy houses.
Energy is probably Japan’s greatest vulnerability, both in environmental terms and in assured sources of supply. Japan’s long-run energy policy is simple — obtain stable supplies at low cost — but implementation is complex in what is a global, dynamic, rapidly changing set of related industries.
EM starts the week on an uncertain footing. Commodity prices were off sharply until comments by Saudi Arabia lifted them, reversing the trend in commodity-sensitive assets. The dollar is also back on the rise, pressuring EM FX even as a December FED hike is now just about fully priced in. In South America, the victory of the market-friendly candidate in Argentina and better political winds in Brazil have also given the region some hope for the near term, which could help sentiment more broadly.
The World Bank recently noted its opinion that growth in Africa hinges largely on a strong and virile judicial system. The World Bank made its comments in conjunction with the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), and it targeted toward member nations of the African Union (AU).
Extremely high personal income growth throughout the United States is making the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December.
A new study by the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that personal incomes grew by 4.6% on average throughout 2014 in metropolitan areas, after rising only 1.1% in 2013.
On 29 October 2015, the 18th central committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) issued a communiqué allowing all Chinese couples to have two children. The new policy will come into effect from March 2016 after formal ratification by the National People’s Congress. However, it is unclear whether ending China’s more than 30 yearlong one-child policy will trigger the CPC’s hoped for demographic changes.
1) Mexico’s FX commission tweaked its intervention program slightly; 2) The political tide in Brazil has turned slightly better for the government; 3) The PBOC announced a rate cut for its Standing Lending Facility (SLF) for local financial institutions; 4) IMF staff has concluded that China meets the requirements to join the SDR basket; 5) As promised, the Hungarian central bank started to focus on unconventional measures; 6) Indonesia’s central bank maintained its benchmark rate at 7.50% but cut reserve requirements; 7) Recent polls ahead of the Argentine presidential elections ar
Initial unemployment claims fell in the U.S. as one indicator of manufacturing activity showed a modest increase.
Weekly initial unemployment claims fell to 271,000, according to a new report by the Department of Labor. For the week ending November 14, seasonally adjusted initial claims fell by 5,000 from the prior week, while the 4-week moving average rose 3,000 from the previous week’s average. Unemployment claims have remained at a 4-week moving average of around 270,000 for most of 2015, making this week’s report roughly in-line with the year’s trend.
Japan lapsed into a technical recession for the second time since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s tenure in office, according to Bloomberg. GDP dropped at an annual 0.8 percent in the third quarter, after falling 0.7 percent in the second quarter. The second recession arose from such factors as weak investment and falling demand from China. The state of the economy will force the government to take additional easing measures in the short-term.
A Federal Reserve president has said he wants an interest rate hike immediately, although new data suggests the housing market is turning weaker in the country.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said at a conference Tuesday that the job market has improved sufficiently to justify an interest rate hike, adding that he supported a rate hike in September. Lockhart’s hawkish viewpoint is in the minority.
