Japan postpones forecast to inflation as economy decline continues

Predictions of economists are mixed as to whether Japan will be able to grow out of deflation any time soon, and the Japanese finance minister was quoted as saying that because the prices of some products have started going up and corporate profits are good, it is hard to know why deflation was continuing. Consumer […]

Greenspan pressure on China currency revaluation

Some observers think that chances are greater than ever that China will soon revalue their currency, as they have been urged to do by the United States and other nations. China continues to insist that it will not bow to outside pressures to revalue the renminibi after calls to do so at last weekends […]

Snow demands China exchange change

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said after last weekends meeting of the G7 nations (the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada) that China has had more than sufficient time to prepare its financial system to adopt a more flexible exchange rate, and the G7 group as a while sent a clear message […]

Currency concerns in forex markets

The Swiss franc was up Monday on the conventional wisdom that it is a safe investment when other currencies are having trouble. It was up 0.8 centimes to SFr1.1922 as opposed to the U.S. dollar and 0.4 against the yen, to 90.13. The yen was shaky mostly due to the fact that any […]

US deficit widens

The US trade deficit was $61 billion in February, an all-time high. This was up from $58.3 billion in January, which had also been a record.The increase was mostly blamed on increases in oil prices, and despite the rise, some analysts had expected much worse. It remained to be seen what effect the release of […]

OPEC to raise production

OPEC has said that they will consider raising oil production in May to meet an expected rise in demand in the third quarter. They also implied that $50 a barrel might be a realistic upper limit for crude oil prices because that price level seemed not to damage growth. This news sent crude […]

Markets move gently up

Markets around the world were up Wednesday, at least partly on the strength of falling crude oil prices only days after those prices had reached an all-time high. The Shanghai composite index rose 1.9 percent after two straight days of losses, mostly on the strength of investors looking for good buys. In Hong […]

UK housing slows

UK house hunters will pay, on average, more for a house in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England than they did last quarter, and a little less than last quarter if they buy in the South West or in East Anglia. Meanwhile, housing prices rose in London, but only by 0.1 percent, after declines […]

US shareholders aim for greater controls

U.S. business leaders are trying to turn back an attempt by some shareholders to gain more power in the naming of board members to large companies boards of directors. The business executives, supported by such organizations as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, are determined to keep the power to name […]

Index shows Europe’s growth receding

Reflecting disappointing economic news from all over Europe, the Purchasing Mangers Index (PMI) shows that within the Eurozone manufacturing has declined to the point of stagnation. The PMI, which shows actual changes rather than expectations of change, is lower than it has been in four months in the Eurozone overall. The largest declines […]