There has been an unexpectedly sharp downturn in demand to truck everything from food to furniture since the beginning of March and rates in the overheated segment that deals in on-demand trucking jobs – known as the spot market – are skidding.It basically just dropped off a cliff. A lot …
Read More »U.S. Economic Growth Slowed Further in March — Chicago Fed
The US economy expanded in March, but growth softened compared with the previous month, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago showed Monday.The Chicago Fed National Activity Index decreased to 0.44 in March from a revised 0.54 in February. The reading is above the 0.40 consensus forecast from economists. …
Read More »Market Drivers – US Session – Friday 22 April
Total assets on the Fed’s weekly balance sheet as of April 20, released this afternoon, declined to $8.955 trillion, roughly the same as on March 16 and below the levels of March 23 and April 13. Beyond the week-to-week ups and downs, caused by the peculiarities of Mortgage Backed Securities …
Read More »US Flash Markit Manufacturing PMI rises to 59.7 in April versus 58.2 expected
Manufacturing PMI was a little stronger than expected, but Services PMI was much weaker than expected. The Dollar Index (DXY) did not react to the latest PMI data release. IHS Markit’s headline Manufacturing PMI rose to 59.7 in April from 58.8 in March, above expectations for a slight decline to …
Read More »White House: Strong GDP Growth In 2022
The White House sees more risks to US economic activity in the months ahead thanks to rising prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but still expects healthy GDP growth in 2022.A senior administration official said inflation, caused in part by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and supply chain hiccups are additional …
Read More »Fed’s Bostic: Larger 75 bps hike “not on the radar”
Atlanta Fed President and FOMC member Raphael Bostic on Tuesday reiterated the important of getting rates to neutral territory “expeditiously”, though cautioned that a 75 bps rate hike is “not on the radar”.Bostic said he estimates the neutral rate to be around 2.5% and feels the US economy is strong …
Read More »Bank Earnings Signal Dark Clouds Ahead
Wall Street’s biggest players have had a rough start to the year. All the biggest US banks saw negative profits in the first three months of 2022, ending a pandemic-era boom.Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo all announced large year-over-year profit declines in their first-quarter earnings reports Thursday, …
Read More »Could US Economy Stay Strong?
Since the outburst of the war in East Europe, markets have massively increased their expectations for key US interest rates. This can be seen, among other things, in the rise in the yield on the 2-year US Treasury bond by around 0.9%% in just a few weeks.The basis for this …
Read More »Kremlin aide: Russia’s imports fell sharply in March as Western companies pulled out
Kremlin aide Maxim Oreshkin was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying on Friday that Russian imports fell sharply in March due to logistical restrictions and the withdrawal of Western companies from the country. He expected the decline to reach “tens of percent”. The Russian current account surplus is …
Read More »Mester: Fed To Push Policy Quickly Enough To Contain Hot Inflation
Cleveland Fed President and FOMC member Loretta Mester said on Thursday that the Fed aims to reduce policy accommodation at the pace necessary to control inflation whilst also sustaining economic activity.Mester added that the Fed aims to bring demand into better balance with supply, whilst also sustaining the health of …
Read More »