World

A look at the day ahead in markets from Sujata Rao It's a pretty eventful day in markets. U.S. 10-year yields are back above 3 per cent, lifting the dollar to two-week highs. Then, the yen plumbed new 20-year lows, Australia upped interest rates by a half-point and the pound has fallen after a ruling party confidence vote failed to dislodge Prime Minister Boris Johnson. U.S. and European equities are predictably under pressure. Yet, look behind the surface and there are some positives. The yield boost is due in large part, not to a fresh upsurge in inflation fears, but in anticipation of the $96 billion in new Treasury bonds hitting markets this week. More importantly, the China re-opening trade is in full swing, with Beijing following Shanghai's example in further relaxing COVID curb...

NEW YORK – US imports from China rose to an all-time record after seasonal adjustment in April, despite the Shanghai lockdown and other Covid-related blockages in the Chinese economy. That isn’t what you read in Bloomberg News, whose 30 economists and 100 full-time economics reporters apparently haven’t learned the difference between seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data. Unadjusted, the data show a typical bouncing-ball pattern over a 12-month cycle. It is meaningless to make month-to-month comparisons without taking into account the pronounced seasonality of trade patterns. The chart above reflects seasonal adjustment performed on the Eviews econometrics platform using the TRAMO algorithm, the approach employed by most central banks. Wrote Bloomberg June 7: “The US trade deficit sh...

From export bans to price controls, governments in Asia are taking a much more targeted approach than their Western counterparts in curbing global inflationary pressure, a strategy that appears to be working at least for now. While inflation remains a serious economic challenge in Asia, the measures have in many countries helped shield the public from some of the price rises and meant most central banks in the region have not had to raise interest rates as quickly as they have elsewhere. The various efforts have also shifted some of the cost burdens away from consumers and small businesses largely to government balance sheets. "We have not seen any weakening in purchasing power," said Baskoro Santoso, investor relations officer at Indonesian snack maker Mayora Indah. The company has ad...

A trader pauses while monitoring financial data on computer screens at ETX Capital, a broker of contracts-for-difference, in London, U.K. on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images LONDON – Sterling is in danger of becoming an "emerging market" currency as falling growth and growing risks cause investors to flee the pound, according to Bank of America. As of Tuesday afternoon in Europe, sterling was down 7% against the dollar year-to-date, trading just below $1.26 having been as low as $1.22 earlier this month. Short positions have been mounting against the currency as the global economic challenges of the war in Ukraine, inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and slowing growth converge with domestic risks stemming from the Bank of England's unique predicament and t...

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping on Wednesday (Jun 15) assured Vladimir Putin of China's support on Russian "sovereignty and security" - leading Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up "on the wrong side of history". China has refused to condemn Moscow's massive military assault on Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv. China is "willing to continue to offer mutual support (to Russia) on issues concerning core interests and major concerns such as sovereignty and security", state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying during a call with President Putin. It was the second reported call between the two leaders since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24. According to CCTV, Xi praised the "g...

SEOUL: North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast on Sunday (Jun 5), likely its largest single test, a day after South Korea and the United States ended joint military drills. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that at least eight missiles were fired from the Sunan area of the North Korean capital Pyongyang and they flew between 100km and 600km at altitudes between 25km to 90km. In response to North Korea's missiles launch, Japan's Self Defence Force issued a statement that Japan and the United States had conducted a joint military exercise. And South Korea convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting where President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered "expanded deterrence of South Korea and the United States and continued reinforcement of un...

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday (Jun 8) that the consequences for the world of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are worsening, with 1.6 billion people likely to be affect. "The war's impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe, and speeding up," the Secretary-General said, presenting the UN's second report into the repercussions of the conflict. He added that "for people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake. Guterres said that while this year's food crisis is "about lack of access", next year's "could be about lack of food". "There is only one way to stop this gathering storm: The Russian invasion of Ukraine must end," he pleaded in a...

Solar energy stocks soared Monday after a report that the Biden administration will suspend tariffs on solar panel components from four countries. President Joe Biden declared a 24-month tariff exemption for solar panel products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and announced the use of the Defense Production Act to promote domestic production. The news was first reported by Reuters. The move comes as a Commerce Department investigation into the solar industry in Southeast Asia has added more hurdles to importing equipment. Shares of Sunrun jumped 5.9%, while Enphase Energy surged more than 5.4%. SolarEdge Technology and SunPower gained nearly 3%. Array Technologies popped about 18%. "We believe the announcement will be a clear positive for our coverage, particularly within...

The spider web rice fields in Flores, Indonesia. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index shows international rice prices creeping up for the fifth straight month to reach a 12-month high, according to the latest May data published last week. Tanutkij Wangsittidej Food prices have been on the rise in the past few months. And rice, a staple food in much of Asia, could be next, industry watchers said. The prices of many foods, ranging from wheat and other grains to meat and oils, have shot up. That's been driven by a slew of factors, including the rising cost of fertilizer and energy in the past year as well as the Russia-Ukraine war. Food export bans or serious disruptions have included those from India (wheat), Ukraine (wheat, oats and sugar, among others) an...

The Justice Department sued longtime Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn on Tuesday to compel him to register as a foreign agent because of lobbying work it says he performed at the behest of the Chinese government during the Trump administration. The department said it had advised Wynn repeatedly over the last four years to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, and is suing now because Wynn refused to do so. Though the Justice Department has ramped up efforts to criminally prosecute people who don't register as foreign agents, officials described this case as the first lawsuit of its kind in more than three decades. "Where a foreign government uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to...