All Entries Tagged With: "inflation"
Chinese Officials Promise Support
On Monday and Tuesday, Chinese related stocks saw strength. Over the weekend, Chinese officials declared that they would funnel money to support entrepreneurs battered by China’s recent headwinds. Although the Chinese economy continues to grow, the Shanghai Composite has shown tremendous weakness over the past year, and China has opted to begin easing again after [...]
Chinese Home Prices (and Stocks) Continue to Tumble
The Shanghai Composite Index traded lower on Monday, closing down 0.3% after dropping over 2% earlier in the session. The move represented yet another drop in recent weeks. In the month of December, the Shanghai Composite has traded lower in nearly every session. While the move on Monday may have been motivated primarily by the [...]
Gold Prices Crushed
Gold has been experiencing a notable sell-off in recent weeks, as the price of the precious metal has pulled back from about $1,800 an ounce in mid-November to the high $1,500s just last week. The reason for gold’s sell-off has been attributed to a variety of things. Commentators have cited everything from the bursting of [...]
IMF Predicts Slower Growth, Lower Inflation, and a Weak Housing Market
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report regarding the global economy. The report was particularly bearish. “The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase,” stated the IMF’s chief economist Oliver Blanchard. “Markets have clearly become more skeptical about the ability of many countries to stabilize their public debt. Fear of the [...]
Is Ackman’s Latest Bet Bearish for the Economy?
Last week, during CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference, Bill Ackman presented a new investment thesis. After having accurately predicted the turnaround of General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) and having profited tremendously off the financial collapse in 2008, Ackman’s pick was widely anticipated. What was Ackman’s bet? The Hong Kong dollar. Upon revealing the pick, the HKD/USD [...]
Markets Betting on Operation Twist
On Monday morning CNBC reported that in a survey the network had conducted, 70% of respondents predicted that the Federal Reserve would undertake an Operation Twist in the near future. Further, almost 80% of respondents who predicted Operation Twist believed that the Fed would act this week. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set [...]
Fed’s Doves Willing to Do Work
Last week, Charles Evans—governor of the Federal Reserve of Chicago—gave a speech in which he outlined his beliefs about monetary policy going forward in the short-term. Evans may be considered an inflation dove, relatively speaking, as he made clear in his willingness to endorse action despite possible inflationary consequences. “Conditions still aren’t much different from [...]
Despite Inflation, Bank of England Official Wants More Easing
On Tuesday, the consumer price index in the U.K. rose 4.5% on an annual basis, up 0.1% from a month before. The Guardian reports that the increase in the rate of inflation was driven by a rally in the price of energy bills, as well as spiraling prices in clothing and footwear. The rise in [...]
Is the Chinese Economy a Bubble?
Wikileaks, the infamous organization known for publishing top-secret communications cables, recently published another load of documents on the Internet. The new release includes a document demonstrating that Chinese officials have been aware of the possibility of asset bubbles within the Chinese economy since 2009. Some in the investment community have been warning of the possibility [...]
Forty Years After the End of Gold-Backed Money
Monday August 15 marked the 40th anniversary of former President Richard Nixon’s decision to cease gold-dollar convertibility, effectively ending the gold standard once and for all. Since then, the global economy has existed solely in the realm of fiat currency. Following the Second World War, the United States and its allies created the Bretton Woods [...]
