Institutional Investor (April 1)
“In March, the Bank of Japan made the seismic decision to raise interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The long-awaited shift to positive rates has excited some of the country’s leading chief executives.”
Tags: 17 years, BOJ, Chief executives, Decision, Excited, Interest rates, Japan, Leading, Long-awaited, March, Positive rates, Raise, Seismic, Shift
Washington Post (April 1)
“Earth has a long-running fever that shows little signs of easing. The planet has set high temperature records in each of the last nine months, and March is poised to become the 10th. Multiple locations around the world observed unprecedented heat on the month’s final weekend, as if to put an exclamation mark on this exceptional run of warmth.”
Tags: Earth, Exceptional, Fever, Heat, High, March, Planet, Records, Temperature, Unprecedented, Weekend, World
Financial Times (March 10)
“Policymakers at the Bank of Japan are tackling a series of thorny policy debates as they confront the practicalities of raising interest rates for the first time since the summer of 2006.” Despite signaling the “unprecedented era of cheap money” could end with a rate increase as early as March, the BoJ “still faces a number of challenging decisions about how to leave negative rates behind without causing turmoil for global markets and Japanese lenders.”
Tags: 2006, BOJ, Cheap money, Confront, Global markets, Japan, Lenders, March, Negative rates, Policy debates, Policymakers, Practicalities, Thorny, Turmoil, Unprecedented era
CNN (August 18)
“The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which looks at seven indicators of market sentiment, is showing signs of fear on Friday for the first time since March. That’s a big change from just one month ago, when the index was in ‘extreme greed’ territory.” The culprit? “China’s economy is in trouble” and that “spells bad news for US stocks, and potentially for your portfolio.”
Tags: Big change, China, Culprit, Economy, Extreme greed, Fear & Greed Index, March, Market sentiment, Portfolio, Stocks, Trouble, U.S.
Bloomberg (April 19)
“Sales of previously owned US homes fell in March by more than forecast, underscoring a housing market that’s still on shaky footing despite some signs of stabilizing.” Though inventory remains tight, “the median selling price of a previously owned home fell 0.9% from a year earlier to $375,700 in March — the largest decline since January 2012.”
Tags: Decline, Forecast, Homes, Inventory, March, Sales, Selling price, Shaky, Stabilizing, U.S., Underscoring. Housing market
Bloomberg (April 12)
“The feel-good days for global markets at the end of March are firmly over.” Suddenly, everyone is afraid of economic slowing. “With monetary support rapidly receding and recession risks rising, investors are hunkering down. Companies resilient to an economic slowdown such as health care are back in favor. Ditto cash and dividend-paying stocks. Meanwhile, demand for hedging is creeping up in the options market.”
Tags: Afraid, Companies, Dividends, Feel good, Global markets, Health care, Hedging, Hunkering down, Investors, March, Monetary support, Recession, Risks, Slowdown
Reuters (April 1)
In March, the Japanese yen “lost around 8% against the dollar… dropping to a six-year low below 125 on Monday.” Some believe that level “raises alarm among Japanese authorities, as a previous drop to that level triggered verbal warnings by BOJ’s Kuroda.” However, in terms of the “real, effective exchange rate—an indicator that captures the international competitiveness of a currency,” the yen is performing even worse, having “slid to less than half” of 1995’s peak.
Tags: 1995, Alarm, Authorities, BOJ, Currency, Dollar, Effective exchange rate, Indicator, International competitiveness, Japan, Kuroda, Low, March, Verbal warnings, Yen
The Economist (November 27)
The EU is currently “recording nearly a quarter of a million cases a day,” its highest levels ever, and the WHO has warned “that 700,000 more Europeans could die by March.” Eventually, “covid-19 will probably settle down as a seasonal disease, a lethal threat to the elderly and the poor in health, but to everyone else mostly a nuisance. However, as Europe is discovering, getting there will be perilous.”
Tags: Cases, COVID-19, Die, Elderly, EU, Europe, Health, Highest, Lethal threat, March, Nuisance, Poor, Seasonal disease, WHO
MarketWatch (March 28)
“Despite the upbeat note that the final full week in March delivered, strategists and market participants were chirping about a major block trade in the final minutes of Friday trading that could portend further stress on the market, which has been subject to bouts of turbulence as rising interest rates amid the rollout of COVID vaccines and a $1.9 trillion aid package complicate the financial outlook.”
Tags: Block trade, Covid, March, Market, Rates, Rollout, Strategists, Stress, Turbulence, Upbeat, Vaccines
Reuters (March 15)
U.S. airlines are pointing to “concrete signs of an industry recovery as a slowing COVID-19 pandemic helps leisure bookings.” One of them, “Chicago-based United, which had been among the most pessimistic of the airlines heading into the pandemic a year ago, is the first to say it could hit the industry’s cash burn milestone” and return to the black in March.
Tags: Airlines, Bookings, Cash burn, Chicago, COVID-19, Leisure, March, Milestone, Pandemic, Pessimistic, Recovery, U.S., United
