MarketWatch (March 19)
“There is a long-running academic debate about why the dollar’s strength has persisted for so long, with some arguing that its value goes hand in hand with U.S. power as a security guarantor and the dominant player in the post-World War II multilateral institutions. If the U.S. is now abandoning these roles, others will be forced to stand up for themselves, and the dollar’s unquestioned dominance could finally come to an end.”
Tags: Abandoning, Debate, Dollar, Dominance, End, Long-running, Multilateral institutions, Persisted, Power, Security guarantor, Strength, U.S.
Time (March 15)
“Amid widespread economic turmoil, the price of gold has soared to levels never seen before,” with Gold futures exceeding $3,000 per troy ounce. Prices for this safe haven investment “are spiking higher now as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have kicked off an international trade war that has roiled financial markets and threatened to reignite inflation for families and businesses alike.”
Tags: 000 oz t, 3%, Economic, Gold, Inflation, Investment, Markets, Price, Roiled, Safe haven, Soared, Spiking, Tariff policies, Trade war, Trump, Turmoil, U.S., Widespread
New York Times (March 11)
“A new round of tariffs on aluminum and steel went into effect overnight. This time, no U.S. trading partner was spared.” The EU will respond with “$28 billion in retaliatory levies next month on American products, including bourbon, jeans and agricultural products.” While EU officials “hope they can still strike a deal…. President Trump seems determined to stick with his protectionist policies.” Immediate market reaction was muted, though “the sell-off has wiped roughly $4 trillion off the benchmark index in less than a month — as concerns grow that the levies will push up prices and slow growth.”
Tags: $4 trillion, Agricultural products, Aluminum, Bourbon, EU, Growth, Jeans, Market reaction, Prices, Protectionist policies, Retaliatory levies, Sell-off, Steel, Tariffs, Trading partner, Trump, U.S.
Reuters (March 10)
“Wall Street futures sank and the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc strengthened early on Monday as building deflationary pressures in China added to growth worries from a fading U.S. economy and an escalating global trade war.”
Tags: China, Deflationary pressures, Economy, Escalating, Fading, Futures, Global trade war, Growth, Safe haven, Strengthened, Swiss franc, U.S., Wall Street, Worries, Yen
Barron’s (March 6)
“The Nasdaq Composite closed in correction territory as Wall Street sold pretty much everything in response to the Trump administration’s latest tariff rhetoric.” Both the S&P 500 and the Dow also dropped amid a tariff saga that has left investors shaking. “The uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff plans have caused headaches for market participants. There are also fears among some economists that policy uncertainty will send sentiment falling further until it triggers a recession.”
Tags: 2020, Capitulation, Escalation, Fears, Havoc, Market, Panic selling, Recession, Sparking, Stocks, Tariffs, Trade war, Trump, U.S., VIX, Volatility, Worst week, Wreaked
Reuters (March 3)
“Europe’s dark defence picture has a bright side. President Donald Trump’s hostility to erstwhile U.S. allies in Europe… has scrambled the continent’s security arrangements. Yet leaders who gathered in London on Sunday have a consolation of sorts: the pressure to rapidly rearm gives them cover to hike taxes.” They can now “legitimately tell their populations that everything has changed. There’s a solid long-term argument for Europeans to make a bigger contribution to their security. It’s a silver lining for an otherwise gloomy outlook.”
Tags: Allies, Consolation, Cover, Defense, Europe, Gloomy outlook, Hostility, Leaders, London, Pressure, Rearm, Scrambled, Security arrangements, Silver lining, Taxes, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (March 1)
President Trump’s “gambit to take control of Ukraine’s deposits of lithium, graphite, cobalt, rare metals and so forth — after calling for buying Greenland and taking over Canada, in part to nab their vast troves of critical minerals — suggests that he is fashioning a 19th-century strategy to work in the 21st.” While he may like this strategy, “holding a gun” to other nations “seems unwise if the United States wants to avoid becoming an international pariah and pushing erstwhile allies into the arms of its adversaries.”
Tags: 19th-century strategy, Adversaries, Allies, Canada, Cobalt, Control, Deposits, Gambit, Graphite, Greenland, International pariah, Lithium, Minerals, Rare metals, Trump, U.S., Ukraine
MarketWatch (February 26)
“The brightest spot in the housing market is fading fast.” Sales of new homes in the U.S. “fell to the lowest level in 3 months, as buyers have grown frustrated with high mortgage rates and high home prices.” The 10.5% drop in new-home sales has caused inventory to spike. “Builders are now sitting on high levels of inventory. The number of finished homes on the market in January was at the highest level since August 2009, in the aftermath of the Great Recession.”
Tags: August 2009, Builders, Buyers, Fading, Finished homes, Frustrated, Great Recession, Housing market, Inventory, Mortgage rates, New homes, Prices, Sales, U.S.
South China Morning Post (February 24)
“South Korea is lagging behind or matching China in ‘basic competency’ in five areas of semiconductor technology, including memory chips and artificial intelligence (AI) chips, according to a report released last week by the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Evaluation and Planning.” China has now “surpassed South Korea to rank second in memory chip technologies” and “is now only behind the US in this field.” All of this comes despite “US restrictions on the country’s access to advanced chips and chipmaking technologies.”
Tags: Access, Advanced, AI, China, Chips, Competency, Lagging, Memory, Restrictions, Semiconductor technology, South Korea, Surpassed, U.S.
The Economist (February 20)
“The past week has been the bleakest in Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Ukraine is being sold out, Russia is being rehabilitated and, under Donald Trump, America can no longer be counted on to come to Europe’s aid in wartime. The implications for Europe’s security are grave, but they have yet to sink in to the continent’s leaders and people.”
Tags: Bleakest, Europe, Grave, Implications, Iron Curtain, Leaders, People, Rehabilitated, Russia, Security, Sold out, Trump, U.S., Ukraine, Wartime
