USD
In debt we trust
In dollar terms, the United States is the world’s most indebted country, with a net international investment position – the difference between US residents’ foreign financial assets and liabilities – increasing to –$16.75 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. If the US were subject to the same constraints as a household or business, this would be terribly alarming – and indeed, charts are frequently shared on Twitter and other social media sites purporting to show the imminent collapse of the economy as debt levels reach a tipping point (another, particularly confused one,...
Risk appetite falls into heavy week
Currency traders are squaring their positions this morning ahead of a series of potentially market-moving data releases and policy decisions in the coming days. The dollar is inching lower, two-year yields are holding above the 5-percent threshold, and equity futures are setting up for a softer session. The subdued open comes after a week in which Treasury yields snapped higher, stocks fell, and the greenback broke an extended winning streak. With August core consumer prices, producer prices, and retail sales all coming in hot, investors began to lose hope in a rapid pivot toward looser monetary policy from the Federal...
Central banks in the spotlight
• Mixed markets. US equities fell back with higher bond yields & jitters about the autoworkers strike weighing on sentiment. USD & AUD consolidated.• China data. The China activity data was generally better than expected. This supports our thinking that growth momentum could be bottoming out.• Event calendar. US Fed (Thurs morning AEST), BoE (Thurs AEST), & BoJ (Fri AEST) decisions in the spotlight. European/US PMIs (Fri) also in focus. Mixed fortunes across asset classes and regions on Friday. In contrast to the lift by most major Asian and European stock markets, US equities fell back, led by the tech-sector...
Markets steady ahead of major central bank meetings
Hopes for a “soft landing” in the US economy are still intact after yesterday’s data showed unemployment claims falling and “control group” retail sales continuing to rise – suggesting that consumer demand remains remarkably strong. The dollar is holding steady, Treasury yields are moving higher. Equity futures are down as investors worry about the impact of strikes at the Big Three automakers Chinese consumer spending and factory activity levels showed improvement in August, and unemployment fell, suggesting that the economy’s downturn is bottoming out. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics last night showed retail sales rising 4.6 percent...