The personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) increased 0.1% in June 2024 and was up 2.5% from a year ago, with the annual rate showing a slight decline from the prior month Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, showed a monthly increase of 0.2% and 2.6% on the year,Read More →
In the second quarter of 2024, the U.S. economy expanded at a strong annual rate of 2.8%, exceeding economists’ forecasts. This surge was fueled by positive consumer spending, substantial government expenditures, and increased inventories. The personal consumption expenditures price index saw a 2.6% rise in the same timeframe, a decreaseRead More →
In June 2024, China’s imports fell by 2.3% year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms, missing the expected 2.8% growth forecast by analysts. However, exports rose by 8.6%, surpassing the anticipated 8% growth. This resulted in a 2% increase in year-to-date imports and a 3.6% rise in exports for the first halfRead More →
In May 2024, the U.K. economy expanded by 0.4%, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday 11th July 2024. The newly elected Labour Party will welcome this broad-based recovery as Prime Minister Keir Starmer begins his first week in office. Following the announcement, Sterling surgedRead More →
Jerome Powell on Tuesday 9th July 2024 reportedly expressed concern that holding interest rates too high for too long could jeopardize economic growth. This comment came ahead of the consumer price index reading due this week. Preparing for a two-day session on Capitol Hill, the central bank chief stated thatRead More →
Markets respond positively to job data as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq break record highs, again! S&P 500 record high Nasdaq Composite record high Nasdaq 100 record high U.S. non-farm payrolls increase The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in June 2024 though the unemployment rate increased, the U.S.Read More →
Over the last weekend of June 2024, China released its official PMI figures, with the manufacturing PMI remaining at 49.5, the same as in May 2024, indicating a second consecutive month of contraction. On Monday 1st July 2024, Japan adjusted its first-quarter GDP figures, showing a contraction of 2.9% year-on-year,Read More →
On Friday 28th June 2024, the Japanese yen dropped to its lowest point in 38 years, surpassing the 161 threshold against the dollar reached for the first time since December 1986. The yen has faced challenges, slipping beyond the 160 mark again. Since the Bank of Japan concluded its negativeRead More →
UK economy purring but not roaring like a lion… yet! The UK economy expanded more than initially thought in the first quarter of 2024, signalling a recovery from recession, according to updated official data. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that from January to March 2024, the economy experiencedRead More →
The ‘Sahm Rule’ serves as a heuristic indicator employed by the Federal Reserve to ascertain the onset of a recession in the economy. The Sahm Rule is a real-time evaluation tool based on monthly unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Named after economist Claudia Sahm, it forecastsRead More →
In May 2024, China’s retail sales exceeded forecasts, increasing by 3.7% from the previous year and surpassing the anticipated 3% rise. Conversely, industrial output experienced a 5.6% growth on an annual basis, falling short of the projected 6% increment. Meanwhile, fixed asset investment saw a 4% increase from the previousRead More →
In April 2024, the U.K.’s economic growth came to a standstill, figures released on Wednesday 12th June 2024 indicated, putting a pause on the subdued recovery from the previous year’s recession just weeks before the UK election. Analysts had anticipated growth a levelling off following a 0.4% expansion in MarchRead More →
Bad economic news appears to have had an interesting impact on the stock market recently. Traditionally, negative economic data might be anticipated to result in falling stock prices; however, recent trends have diverged from this norm. News trend In the past two months, negative economic news has had a paradoxically positiveRead More →
Wet weather was to blame for the U.K. retail sales volumes drop of 2.3% in April 2024. Shoppers were deterred from the high street, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Friday 24th May 2024. Economists expected a smaller retail sales fall of 0.4%. Sales volumes declined across multiple sectors,Read More →
The April inflation came in higher than anticipated, falling to 2.3%, as reported by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday 22nd May 2024. Traders have now reduced their expectations of a June interest rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE). Markets reacted negatively in early trading. The headlineRead More →
The U.K. economy has recovered from its ‘technical’ recession, with the gross domestic product (GDP) increasing by 0.6% in the first quarter, surpassing expectations. Official figures released on Friday revealed this growth, which exceeded the 0.4% predicted by economists surveyed by Reuters for the previous quarter. In the latter halfRead More →
The International Monetary Fund calculates that Russia’s economy will expand more rapidly than all advanced economies this year. According to the latest World Economic Outlook released by the IMF, Russia’s economy is projected to expand by 3.2% in 2024. This growth outpaces the anticipated growth rates for the U.S. atRead More →
Inflation in the U.K. eased to 3.2% from 3.4% in March, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday 17th April 2024. But a higher-than-expected reading creates more concern as investors push back bets on the timing of the first Bank of England (BoE) rate cut. Economists expected 3.1% asRead More →
On a quarter-by-quarter basis, China’s GDP grew 1.6% in the first quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of around expectations of 1.4%. Beijing’s growth target for 2024 is around 5%. China’s growth was driven in part by external demand, as export volume grew by 14% year on year. Industrial output forRead More →
One tenth of 1% is very little but we can at least hope the UK is on it’s on way out of recession Let’s blame the weather The economy grew by 0.1%, figures show, boosted by production and manufacturing in areas such as the car sector. The Office for NationalRead More →
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released updated UK GDP figures, confirming that the UK entered a technical recession in the last six months of the previous year. The new data shows the economy contracted by 0.1% in the three months from June to August 2023, with a furtherRead More →
More than a fifth of working-age adults in the UK are currently not actively seeking employment, according to recent figures. The economic inactivity rate during the period from November 2023 to January 2024 stood at 21.8%, a slight increase compared to the previous year. This means that approximately 9.2 million people aged between 16 and 64 are neither employed nor activelyRead More →
The economy grew by 0.2%, ONS figures show, boosted by sales in shops and online and from more construction activity. Hopefully this means the UK is on its way out of recession. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the services sector led the bounce back. This is an earlyRead More →
According to the revised official data, the Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. According to this revision, the economy avoided a technical recession, which is usually defined as two successive quarters of negativeRead More →
In his Capitol Hill testimony on 6th March 2024, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that was not yet time to begin cutting interest rates. To fight inflation, which reached a rate of 9% in the summer of 2022, the central bank has significantly increased interest rates in recent times. However, prices are still stubborn, especiallyRead More →
The U.S. national debt has been growing more quickly in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days. U.S. debt permanently crossed over $34 trillion on 4th January 2024 according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on 15th September 2023, and $32 trillionRead More →