European Business Magazine (February 2)
“Xi Jinping wants the renminbi to become a global reserve currency to reduce China’s dependence on the US dollar, strengthen financial sovereignty and expand Beijing’s influence over global trade and capital flows. While the currency’s use in trade settlement is growing, capital controls and limited market access remain key barriers to full reserve-currency status.”
Tags: Barriers, Capital controls, Capital flows, China, Currency, Dependence, Dollar, Financial sovereignty, Global trade, Influence, Limited market access, Renminbi, Reserve currency, Trade settlement, U.S., Xi
Bloomberg (February 2)
“The US president’s stance toward the greenback may help Xi Jinping realize his dream of making the yuan a global reserve currency.” At the top of President Xi’s wish “list is a ‘powerful currency’ with global-reserve status that punches its weight in international trade and foreign-exchange markets.” China now looks “well positioned to benefit from any long-term shift away from the dollar.” Despite Trump’s America First bluster, his “disruptive policies may be playing into the hands of rivals like China, who are only too eager to exploit US weakness wherever they see an opening.”
Tags: America first, Disruptive policies, Dollar, Exploit, Forex, Global reserve currency, Greenback, International trade, Powerful, President, U.S., Xi, Yuan
Barron’s (January 27)
“Japan is the market’s ‘Big Story.’” Proposals for a “looser fiscal policy” have resulted in “big moves in the yen and Japanese government bonds that have investors increasingly on edge around the world.” Now all eyes are on the 40-year JGB auction, which really “matters for U.S. and European investors. If prices fall, sending yields higher it, it could make Japanese bonds attractive enough for local investors to move money invested abroad back to Japan.”
Tags: 40 year, Abroad, Europe, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Looser fiscal policy, Market, Money, Prices, U.S., Yen, Yields
MarketWatch (January 26)
“The U.S. dollar took another hit on Monday, weakening to its lowest levels in four months, as talk of a coordinated intervention to prop up the competing Japanese yen intensified. A stronger Japanese currency could end up translating into trouble for U.S. stocks, as it did on Aug. 5, 2024, when a sharp unwinding of the yen carry trade was blamed for a selloff in global equities.”
Tags: Blamed, Carry trade, Coordinated intervention, Currency, Dollar, Japan, Prop up, Selloff, Stocks, U.S., Unwinding, Weakening, Yen
Washington Post (January 25)
“The open split that emerged last week between the United States and some of its closest allies highlights the seismic changes that are in store for the global economy amid the transition from full-blown U.S.-led globalization to an unruly new order.”
Tags: Allies, Global economy, Globalization, New order, Open split, Seismic changes, Transition, U.S., Unruly
MSN (January 23)
“UPS reported sharply lower earnings in the third quarter and said it expects lower revenue and thinner profit margins ahead.” The global shipper cited “a slowing global economy…for its gloomy forecast,” and its concern over “global macroeconomic uncertainty” has broader implications. “UPS is something of an economic bellwether, as its trucks move an estimated 6% of US gross domestic product and 3% of global GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity.”
Tags: Bellwether, Earnings, Economy, Global macroeconomic uncertainty, Gloomy forecast, Lower, Profit margins, Q3, Revenue, U.S., UPS
Financial Times (January 19)
“Trump’s bizarre designs on Greenland and his willingness to inflict financial pain on allies” mean that “the U.S. has squandered its most valuable financial asset: trust. It risks paying a heavy price for this for decades to come.” The U.S. remains the only market “big enough to absorb” giant capital flows so this “is not about ‘sell America.’” Europe is not going to sell its $8 trillion worth of Treasuries overnight. Rather, Trump’s latest move provides “a big incentive for investors to buy more bonds and stocks from elsewhere over time…. to spread things a little more globally.”
Tags: $8 trillion, Allies, Asset, Bizarre, Bonds, Capital flows, Europe, Financial pain, Greenland, Heavy price, Incentive, Investors, Risks, Sell America, Squandered, Stocks, Treasuries, Trump, Trust, U.S., Valuable
CNN (January 15)
“For China, the record $1.2 trillion annual trade surplus its authorities reported Wednesday is resounding proof of the resilience of its economy in the face of US trade friction.” The record surplus “also tells another story: one of the far-reaching potential for China’s massive export engine to reshape the global economy – and help Beijing win more leverage in its rivalry with the United States.”
Tags: $1.2 trillion, China, Economy, Export engine, Friction, Global economy, Leverage, Potential, Proof, Record, Resilience, Trade surplus, U.S.
The Week (January 14)
“President Donald Trump has renewed his efforts to take over Greenland, and tapping into the Danish territory’s natural resources is a key part of the strategy. But even if Trump were to somehow make Greenland a U.S. territory (something Denmark vehemently opposes), experts say the island’s harsh climate and environment make mining Greenland’s natural resources an unachievable goal.”
Tags: Climate, Denmark, Efforts, Environment, Experts, Greenland, Mining, Natural resources, Opposes, Renewed, Strategy, Trump, U.S., Unachievable
Market Watch (January 14)
“For investors, a meaningful erosion of central-bank independence would weaken the Fed’s inflation-targeting discipline and be negative for both stocks and bonds, as markets have long operated under the assumption that Fed independence will hold.” Although “we do not expect the Trump administration to capture the Federal Reserve, continued pressure on central-bank independence is likely to weigh on the U.S. dollar.” Ultimately, “market calm is conditional on the Senate acting as a backstop to Fed independence. If that condition is misread, markets will break down.”
Tags: Bonds, Capture, Central bank, Discipline, Dollar, Erosion, Fed, Independence, Inflation, Investors, Markets, Negative, Senate, Stocks, Trump, U.S., Weaken
