Economics

The country is insisting that its creditors take a 40% haircut, or it threatens to declare a unilateral moratorium.  Important but self-imposed deadlines are approaching.  The country is not Greece but Ukraine.  The IMF initially insisted that Ukraine reach terms...

Further hints are surfacing that the job market in the United States is recovering. The total number of job openings and overall demand in hiring new employees has grown at a strong pace. According to a new study by the...

According to a recent report by BloombergBusiness, jobs in the US healthcare sector are more plentiful than ever before. Indeed, according to statistics for April 2015, job openings in the healthcare industry reached a new record high that surpassed anything...

The US dollar's losses have accelerated.  The key drivers are not domestic but emanate from Europe and Japan.  Evidence continues to accumulate that point to a moderate recovery in the US economy.  The JOLTS data showed job openings are at...

First, monthly jobs growth exceeded expectations, as employers hired 280,000 people. Second, the labor force participation rate ticked up, indicating that people who had stopped looking for work were becoming more optimistic about finding a job and thus had resumed...

The growing Sino–Russian partnership is evidence that the Western policy of isolating Russia has failed. The policy has only served to push Russia deeper into Chinese arms. Russia and China are planning to increase their engagement in Central Asia and...

After a late flurry of additions to the founding membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), attention now turns to setting the China-led AIIB’s rules and regulations. Important questions remain — most importantly, whether the AIIB is a potential...

The last time a horse won the Triple Crown was at the start of the first dollar rally after Bretton Woods collapsed.  It has been 37 years and we think that dollar has begun its third rally since Nixon took...

The recent 2015 Shangri-La Dialogue focused on China, the United States and maritime security. However, those expecting fireworks in the wake of China’s new Defence White Paper and recent sharply worded speeches by US defence officials were left disappointed. The...

Despite obstacles, the White House continues to push preferential trade deals in Asia and Europe.  However, neither can reverse the erosion of U.S. innovation and in Asia Pacific, the proposed pact is more likely to divide than unify the region....

The U.S. Federal Government is getting more revenue, which is helping it cut the budget deficit by over 15%. The Federal deficit fell by $68 billion to $368 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office’s May report. That decline was...

The most important driver of the dollar remains the de-synchronization of the monetary policy cycle.  The early and more aggressive action by the US, and the institutional flexibility, leaves the Federal Reserve in a position to begin normalizing monetary policy...

So far, 2015 is an eventful year for major-power politics. The European Union (EU) and China just held their fifth round of strategic dialogue talks. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of...

Chinese investment in Sri Lanka is causing major problems for Sri Lanka’s President Mathripala Sirisena and has become a point of tension in Sri Lanka–China relations. Chinese investment in Sri Lanka is causing major problems for Sri Lanka’s President Mathripala...

In the age of derivatives, swaps, and electronic money transfers, a new form of warfare has emerged, financial warfare.  Recently, the US has passed sanctions on countries such as Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea, but the majority of energy related...