US The weakness in the US housing market felt through much of last year has extended into 2019. Existing home sales dropped 1.2% in January, as the lingering effects of rapid home price appreciation and higher mortgage rates in the second half of 2018 dampened sales for the third consecutive month. While overall sales have [...]
US The weakness in the US housing market felt through much of last year has extended into 2019. Existing home sales dropped 1.2% in January, as the lingering effects of rapid home price appreciation and higher mortgage rates in the second half of 2018 dampened sales for the third consecutive month. While overall sales have [...]
US In the US, there are signs that the shutdown has had a negative impact on activity. The pace of expansion in the services sector decelerated in January. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 56.7 in January from 58.0 in December, reflecting concerns about the government shutdown, which negatively impacted new orders. Front-and-center was December’s [...]
US There are signs that the shutdown has had a negative impact on activity. The pace of expansion in the services sector decelerated in January. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 56.7 in January from 58.0 in December, reflecting concerns about the government shutdown, which negatively impacted new orders. Fed chairman Jerome Powell said that [...]
US US interest rates fell and risky assets rallied last week in the wake of very dovish commentary from the US Federal Reserve after the January meeting of the FMOC (Federal Open Market Committee). Policymakers seemed to go out of their way to reverse course after sending a more hawkish-than-intended signal to markets after their [...]
US President Trump agreed to reopen the federal government for three weeks while negotiations continued over how to secure the nation’s southwestern border, backing down after a month long standoff failed to force Democrats to give him billions of dollars for his long-promised wall. The president’s concession paved the way for the House and the [...]
US The steady flow of US macroeconomic data that markets and the US Federal Reserve rely on in order to gauge the health of the nation's economy has been somewhat disrupted by the partial US government shutdown. For instance, US retail sales data for the critical holiday selling season have been delayed by a lack [...]
US The Fed appears increasingly likely to hit the “pause” button in March amid financial market volatility, trade uncertainty and an overall moderation in economic growth. In a speech this week, Fed Chairman Powell reemphasized that the Fed would exercise patience and watch the economic data carefully, a sentiment that was echoed by Fed Vice [...]
US The production side of the US economy has slowed considerably, pulling down commodity prices and business confidence. December’s ISM Manufacturing survey tumbled 5.2 points to 54.1, the largest one-month drop in more than a decade. The drop in the headline index was driven primarily by an 11-point plunge in the new orders component, which [...]
US The relative lack of concern on the part of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell surrounding the recent downdraft in risk asset markets during his post rate-hike conference on Wednesday sent markets tumbling to fresh 2018 lows. While noting the Fed is no longer on a preset course of quarterly rates hikes, he did [...]
