“Get a daily roundup of the top reads in personal finance delivered to your inbox” writes Brett Arends for marketwatch.com. And corporate leaders across the board are worried about the turmoil in Washington and a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy, which is now the world’s biggest by some measures. Source: marketwatch.com
Read More“The economy grew at a healthy clip last year of 2.9%, the fastest pace in four years” writes Associated Press for latimes.com. But trade tensions with China, slowing global growth and signs of caution among consumers have weighed on the economy early this year. Many economists forecast that the pace of growth could fall below 1% in the current quarter. Source: latimes.com
Read More“But outstanding corporate debt, which now stands at nearly $10 trillion, is where the red flags are more frequently hoisted” writes Akin Oyedele for businessinsider.com. A decade after the crisis, investors’ biggest concern is no longer household debt.Their net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio has more than doubled since 2009 and was 1.5 times that of their S&P 500 peers at the end of 2018.Half of the small-cap companies have debt that comes due within the next five years, compared with 40% of the S&P 500. Source: businessinsider.com
Read More“Similarly, the ongoing US-China trade war and the potentially disastrous fallout from Brexit have increased uncertainty and has contracted global interest rates” writes Callum Burroughs for businessinsider.com. A well known bellweather economic report has predicted that the US economy will slow to recessionary levels in the next year.US growth will slow to 1.7% in 2019, “to a near-recession pace” of 1.1% in 2020, UCLA Anderson senior economist David Shulman wrote in the report.While the global economy started out strong in 2018, signs of its weakening will likely be everywhere by…
Read More“The economy is braced for its weakest growth since the financial crisis in 2009 as businesses slash investment until they know what is happening with Brexit” writes Tim Wallace for telegraph.co.uk. However, the deficit is still falling faster than expected because rising employment and surging pay is generating extra taxes. By 2023-24 the deficit will be down to £13.5bn, more than £6bn lower than the £19.8bn predicted in October’s numbers. “The economy ended 2018 growing a little less strongly than we expected in October,” said Robert Chote, head of the…
Read More“Business, unions and farmers have responded with dismay to Government plans for changes to tariffs on imported goods if the UK leaves the EU without a Brexit deal” reports aol.co.uk. The CBI said the new rates would hit the UK economy like a “sledgehammer”, while unions warned that zero tariffs on steel would “destroy” jobs.Under the Government’s plans, tariffs will be slapped for the first time on a range of EU imports, including cars and food products like beef, chicken, lamb, pork, butter and “Cheddar-like” cheese.The Government’s approach would not…
Read More“The law determines how digital rights can be exercised and transferred, as well establishes rules for digital transactions, including contracts” writes William Suberg for cointelegraph.com. The press release quotes the Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, as stating that the digital rights law “forms the basis for the development of the digital economy.The law reportedly establishes the concept of “digital rights” in Russian legislation with the addition of a new article, 141.1, of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.As Cointelegraph reported, the Duma passed the crypto bill during…
Read More“The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.31% picked up 1.6 basis points to 2.643%, after coming off a session high of 2.659%” writes Sunny Oh for marketwatch.com. The 2-year note yield TMUBMUSD02Y, +0.49% was also up 1.6 basis points to 2.479%.The 30-year bond yield TMUBMUSD30Y, +0.47% added 2.2 basis points to 3.033%, Tradeweb data show.Meanwhile, the German 10-year government bond yield TMBMKDE-10Y, +1.69% remains at 0.066%.Retail sales for January, delayed due to the government shutdown, showed an 0.2% increase, slightly higher than the 0.1% growth expected from economists polled by…
Read More“ROST, +1.89% shares rose 1.9% after the discount retailer announced plans to open 100 new locations in 2019” writes Markets Reporter for marketwatch.com. Southwest said it was in close contact with Boeing following the crash, but said it had no plans to change operations. Source: marketwatch.com
Read More“The January retail sales report was delayed by a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25” writes unknown author for cnbc.com. February’s retail sales report, which was scheduled for publication on Thursday, will be released on April 1.Data for December was revised down to show retail sales dropping 1.6 percent instead of tumbling 1.2 percent as previously reported.Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rebounded 1.1 percent in January after a downwardly revised 2.3 percent plunge in December. Source: cnbc.com
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