Finance Roundtable
Finance Roundtable
The market forecasters and personal finance blogs complement the Economics Roundtable.
Skeptical Speculator
September trading got off to a roaring start on Wednesday. Bloomberg reports:
Global stocks surged the most since May, Treasuries tumbled and copper rallied as manufacturing in the U.S. and China grew faster than economists estimated, bolstering optimism in the economy. The dollar, yen and Swiss franc weakened.
The MSCI World ...
Consumer confidence in the US improved in August. Bloomberg reports:
Consumer confidence climbed more than forecast in August as Americans turned less pessimistic about the outlook for jobs, easing concern households will retrench.
The Conference Board’s confidence index rose to 53.5 from a five-month low of 51 in July, according a ...
In Europe, a report from the European Commission on Monday showed that growth appears to be holding up so far in the third quarter. ...
The Bank of Japan announced additional stimulus measures on Monday. AFP/CNA reports:
The Bank of Japan decided at an emergency policy meeting Monday to expand its funding programme introduced in December in an effort to safeguard a fragile recovery threatened by a strong yen...
The bank said it would offer around ...
UK second quarter GDP growth has been revised up. Reuters reports:
Britain's economy grew at its fastest pace for nine years in the second quarter, an unexpected revision to official data showed on Friday, but economists said a sharp slowdown was still on the cards.
Strong construction activity caused the Office ...
On Thursday, the euro area reported better loan growth in July. From Bloomberg:
Loans to households and companies in Europe grew at the fastest pace in 13 months in July after the economic recovery gathered steam.
Loans to the private sector rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier after growing an ...
US economic data released on Wednesday were weak. Bloomberg reports:
Orders for durable goods in the U.S. increased less than forecast in July and sales of new homes unexpectedly dropped, increasing the risk of a renewed recession in the world’s largest economy.
Bookings for goods made to last at least three ...
European economic indicators released on Tuesday were positive.
Bloomberg reports that industrial orders in the euro area rose in June.
European industrial orders rose more than economists forecast in June as strengthening global growth helped fuel the region’s fastest expansion in four years in the second quarter.
Orders in the 16-nation euro ...
Monday's economic reports from Europe were mixed.
Reuters reports that growth in the euro area moderated in August.
The euro zone's economic recovery moderated only slightly in August and companies are more optimistic about the coming months despite a divergence in growth rates between countries, a survey showed on Monday.
The Eurozone ...
Slowdown concerns in the US were heightened after Thursday's economic data. From Bloomberg:
Claims for U.S. jobless benefits jumped to the highest level since November and Philadelphia-area manufacturing shrank for the first time in a year, indicating the economy may be slowing faster than forecast.
The number of unemployment claims unexpectedly ...