Huan Guocang via Caixin | What did Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump achieve during their meeting in Singapore last week? Judging by the media response to the summit, the two made few breakthroughs and neither stepped out of his expected role.
For both China and the US, government policy is more important than monetary policy right now. “Interesting that for China, many of its perceived problems are being dealt with through greater use of technology”, explains Mark Tinker, Head of Framlington Equities Asia at AXA IM.
The first half of 2018 has witnessed a dip in global IPO activity as a result of lower capital raising in Asia Pacific and EMEA, according to the latest research from Baker McKenzie. Worries around geopolitics weighed on investors’ minds. However, cross-border deals totalled over $16.6 Bn. The number of deals climbed, up 18% to 85.
According to Julius Baer economists, “despite the perceived escalation of US tariffs quarrels being close to a trade war, they remain tit-for-tat trade disputes.” The missing economic rationale behind the tariffs supports their notion of a pure domestic motivation for the disputes.
“The JPY’s refusal to heed the BOJ’s quest for higher inflation — a consequence of its role as a funding vehicle in the carry trade—has served up a firm reminder of the immense challenges still facing Shinzo Abe’s Japan,” says BNY Mellon senior currency strategist Neil Mellor.
J.P. Marin-Arrese | When it comes to sending messages to the market, Jerome Powell is proving less conventional and more straightforward than Mario Draghi. The former added fuel to the fire by delivering a forthright appraisal of the strength of US growth, the latter announced the ECB would scrap the QE scheme by the end of the year.
One of the more interesting stories that seems to have flown beneath the radar of the foreign exchange market this week was that the US government has quietly asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by around 1 mn barrels per day, according to Simon Derrick Chief currency strategist of BNY Mellon.
US corporate debt rose to 45% of GDP at the peak of the Great Financial Crisis that began in 2008 , the same level it reached at the height of the dot.com bubble in 2000/01
Taking on the leadership of the Commonwealth is a boost for the country embattled in precarious Brexit negotiations and trying to reimagine its place in the world.