Category: News Desk

Federal Reserve to Reduce Bond Purchasing as China Experiments with Loose Lending


The Federal Reserve announced a cut to its bond purchasing program that caused Treasuries to fall and the dollar to strengthen. The Fed also said that the U.S. job market remained lackluster, with the economy improving at a “moderate pace”.

Stocks rallied on the news, while analysts said Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s comments on the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee signaled a slow pace to rising interest rates, which could help equities remain strong for the rest of 2014.

Could the Stagnation in Italy be the Future of the Whole Eurozone?


Italy fell into a troublesome triple-dip recession during the summer of 2014, facing similar challenges to those in California, New York and Illinois due to high taxes and job killing regulations. After a collapse in 2008-9, the economy began to stagnate, travelling consistently back towards recession in 2011 and struggling to recover. The economic minister at the time, Giulio Tremonti, suggested that everyone should simply wait and see, until that philosophy killed the government.

U.S. Industrial Production Falls Despite Low Oil Prices


Industrial production in the United States suddenly contracted despite more optimistic expectations of stable or growing production.

According to the Federal Reserve survey on industrial production and capacity utilization, total industrial production fell 0.1% in August and manufacturing fell 0.4%, reaching a seven-month low. While remaining 24.3% above the recession low, industrial production disappointed analysts who expected a U.S. recovery in manufacturing to drive the index higher.

The British Economy Begins to Feel the Heat of the Ukraine Crisis


Data has recently arisen to provide evidence that manufacturers in Britain have suffered a serious slowdown. The stutter in the British economy seems to have come as the crisis in the Ukraine has started to show signs of impacting the UK. The monthly measure of business numbers in UK factories hit an all-time low recently, sparking fears amongst experts that the economic growth of the country is beginning to fall down once again after a celebratory first half to the year, which had left Britain looking strong.

Poor Americans Debt Burden Highest in History


The poorest Americans now owe 156% of their pretax income to creditors, according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank. The poorest have more debt relative to their net worth in American history, owing $1.37 for every dollar they own.

Australia to Suffer a Major Blow because China’s Unravelling Economy


Resources expert for the federal government, Quentin Grafton, has suggested that the iron ore price will continue its rapid decrease as the economy in China begins to show clear signs of unravelling, leading to serious problems for Australia. Speaking at a recent conference, Grafton announced that the price of iron ore was unlikely to see a quick recovery, which will result in a painful drop for Australia’s 2015 economy.

The Swiss Economy Starts to Stagnate in Second Quarter


The second quarter has shown weakness in Switzerland’s economy this week, since its prominent European Union markets of export have hit demand for the industrial goods of this Alpine country. The GDP of Switzerland, or ‘gross domestic product’ which provides a broad measurement of the economic growth of the nation, has shown no evidence of growth during the three months coming up to the end of June, when compared with the first quarter.

Fed Sees Jobless Epidemic as U.S. Equities Decline


Stocks in the U.S. saw one of their steepest declines late last week on worries that the Federal Reserve will begin tightening its monetary policy this week. Bond yields also rose in last week trading, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose over 15 basis points in a month to 2.62%. Some analysts believe the sell-off is likely to continue as several metrics point to a much-needed correction in equity markets.

Stagnant wages and diminished purchasing power facing Americans as unemployment rises even with more job openings


The Department of Labor reported a surprising uptick in unemployment claims on Thursday, with 315,000 new claims for the week ending September 6th. That was above the prior week’s reading of 304,000 and above expectations of 300,000. With this increase, the 4-week moving average has risen to 304,000, slightly above the low for 2014 at levels seen at the end of 2007.

After a slow start to 2014, Canada’s economy grew at a 3.1% rate in the 2nd quarter


In the second quarter of this year, Canada’s economy experienced a highly appreciated boost as households began spending more, to an annualized pace of 3.1%. This is the largest quarterly gain that Canada has experienced since 2011, in the third quarter. The increase in GDP, gross domestic product, was far larger than the rate of 2.7%, which is what economists were expecting. Following a slow start, which is estimated to be the economy’s worst performance in over a year, the country will benefit from the unexpected jump.