Economics

Despite its economic and strategic importance, the United States has not given priority to ASEAN until recently. There was hope that this would begin to change with the US pivot to Asia in 2009. However, up to November 2015, the...

Investors have become unhinged. The increased volatility and dramatic market moves challenge even the most robust investment strategies. This sets off a chain reaction of money and risk management that further amplifies the price action, like an echo chamber. Then...

The outlook for the dollar in the week ahead is not about economic data or the FOMC and ECB minutes.  It is about the stability of the global capital markets. Many are looking for an event or official action that...

In response to the global crisis, central banks have adopted unorthodox policies.  They expanded their balance sheets and broken the zero bound of interest rates.  Many investors have been critical of the central bank action on principle, but what has...

More investors are running away from stocks and seeking safe havens as job data weakens, signs of a recession intensify, and Janet Yellen reverses her bullish position on the U.S. economy.  Gold hit its 1-year high on Thursday while U.S....

After another difficult Asian session that saw the Nikkei fell 4.8% (12.3% on the week), the capital markets against have stabilized in Europe.  Equity markets are mostly higher, with the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 up nearly 2% led by energy...

The Federal Reserve warned that continued market volatility was threatening America’s economic recovery.  Janet Yellen said before markets opened that the Fed continues to look closely at market volatility and would raise interest rates gradually, with the pace depending on...

The continued sell-off in global equities is the main driver of the capital markets.  It, along with the push lower in oil prices, is pushing core bond yields sharply lower. The continued sell-off in global equities is the main driver...

William White is a senior adviser to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and heads the OECD's Economic and Development Review Committee. He is making waves with a recent, fairly scathing, critique of various nations' central banks. According...

Transnational corporations are secretly and undemocratically, formulating the rules of the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). The world’s largest ever, free trade deal will be the most powerful tool in corporate resistance to the COP21 agreement. There was great...

After another soggy Asian session, European markets have begun on a firm note, and US shares are trading broadly higher in Europe as well.  Led by the beleaguered financial shares, and healthcare, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is up 2%. ...

Can America preserve the US-led regional order by resisting China’s challenge to replace it with ‘a new model of great-power relations’? A lot depends on how much support the United States can expect from its friends and allies in the...

Investors and policymakers continue to wrestle with the economic impact of the dollar's rise.  The Federal Reserve has argued that the dollar's appreciation acts as a headwind on exports and dampens imported inflation.  At the same time, despite the dollar's...

Japan and Iran have entered into a bilateral investment treaty and an agreement for a $10 billion debt guarantee for Iran. The move could create an enormous inflow of Japanese investment in the Middle Eastern nation. The Japanese Ministry of...

This winter has been relatively mild in Japan, but at least in financial markets, it is sub-zero. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced on 29 January that the BoJ would apply a negative interest rate of...