Wall Street Journal (June 20)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “offered nothing to hint at a July rate reduction, and investors eyed September as the earliest possible resumption of rate cuts paused earlier this year. With most relevant data still to come, it made little sense for the Fed chair to commit to a specific course of action.” The Fed is waiting to see “the aftereffects” of Trump’s tariffs. “Most economists expect tariffs to lift prices over the coming months, and that is a worry for the Fed because officials still don’t feel as if they completely vanquished inflation after a three-year-long fight.”
Tags: Aftereffects, Data, Economists, Fed, Inflation, Investors, Powell, Prices, Rate cuts, September, Trump’s tariffs, Waiting
Barron’s (May 23)
“It’s time to worry about Japan and the yen carry trade again.” Rising yields in Japan could spell potential trouble in the U.S. The latest sale of Japan Government Bonds (JGBs) “was met with much less interest than anticipated,” selling at lower-than-expected prices and higher yields. “Those higher yields are trouble for the yen carry trade, which is a bad sign for U.S. Treasuries. Money borrowed in Japan often goes to buy U.S. debt, leading to a potential domino effect.”
Tags: Carry trade, Domino effect, Japan, JGBs, Prices, Rising yields, Treasuries. Debt, Trouble, U.S., Yen
Detroit Free Press (May 17)
“As car buyers rush to get in front of tariffs — which are widely expected to boost sticker prices — the flood of demand has been pushing new vehicle prices ever higher, with the trend unlikely to stop any time soon.” The average new vehicle sales price “in April surged 2.5% to $48,699 compared with March. Prices rose 1.1% compared with April 2024,” making it “the strongest April sales since 2021.”
Tags: $48, 2.5%, 2021, 699 Rose, April, Boost, Car buyers, Demand, Flood, Higher, New vehicle, Prices, Rush, Sticker prices, Strongest April, Surged, Tariffs
FeightWaves (March 20)
“FedEx Corp. reduced its full-year guidance for the third consecutive quarter because of intensifying macroeconomic headwinds and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy, which are crimping higher margin B2B shipping services.” One major source of uncertainty is “the rapid escalation of tariffs and tariff threats from the United States, which is inviting retaliation and worries of diminished consumer demand because of higher prices.”
Tags: B2B, Consumer demand, FedEx, Guidance, Headwinds, Industrial economy, Intensifying, Macroeconomic, Prices, Reduced, Retaliation, Shipping services, Tariffs, Threats, U.S., Uncertainty, Worries
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.
Wall Street Journal (March 10)
Mr. Trump issued a new executive order directing the Treasury Department to take the first steps in establishing what he refers to as “a crypto version of Fort Knox.” This proposal “invites government abuse.” Basically, a “government crypto reserve serves no good purpose while creating an opportunity for political bad behavior. Let private investors speculate all they want without the government having a stake in crypto-currency prices.”
Tags: Abuse, Bad behavior, Crypto, Crypto reserve, Currency, Executive order, Fort Knox, Government, Investors, Prices, Private, Speculate, Stake, Treasury Department, Trump
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.
Wall Street Journal (January 31)
“President Trump’s advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting the universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he had pledged.” Even if Trump implements tariffs, the “frantic negotiations with Canada and Mexico” might continue, hoping to reach a resolution before the measures come into effect. Increasingly, North American businesses and labor groups are arguing that “across-the-board tariffs would snarl continental supply chains, drive up prices, and increase reliance on trade with adversarial regimes such as China and Venezuela.” Still, “the situation is fluid and Trump still may go through with his vow to slap 25%, across-the-board levies on imports from America’s two largest trading partners.”
Tags: Advisers, Businesses, Canada, China, Fluid, Labor, Mexico, Negotiations, Offramps, Prices, Supply chains, Trump, Universal tariffs, Venezuela
Bloomberg (January 26)
“Oil fell as President Donald Trump imposed his first set of sanctions and tariffs in a move that highlighted risks to the global economy and to trade.” U.S. tariffs and other sanctions have now been imposed on Columbia, and the Trump “administration has also threatened actions on flows of goods from a host of other nations, including Canada and China.” On top of that economic uncertainty, Trump is advocating for “OPEC to bring down prices, potentially raising the pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.”
Tags: Canada, China, Columbia, Global economy, Oil, OPEC, Prices, Risks, Russia, Sanctions, Tariffs, Threat, Trade, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, War
LA Times (November 24)
“California is making so much solar energy that large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production, raising questions about the state’s costly plan to shift entirely to carbon-free sources of electricity.” Over the past year, “solar farms have curtailed production of more than 3 million megawatt hours of solar energy, either on the orders of the state’s grid operator or because prices had plummeted because of the glut.”
Tags: 3 million MWh, California, Carbon-free, Commercial operators, Electricity, Energy, Forced, Glut, Grid operator, Plummeted, Prices, Production, Solar farms
