Jiming Huang / Profil

Yesterday’s February retail sales disappointed, coming in negative at -0.70% instead of an expected slight gain. Private consumption has declined for three months in a row, and this is the key contributor to economic growth...

During the Asian session, the US dollar lost some ground against the Swissie with USD/CHF easing to 0.9576, down from yesterday high of 0.9597...

Ready to bounce. By Peter Rosenstreich • Bitcoin bearish trend stops after breaking hourly support at 6797 (06/02/2018), currently trading at the 7350 range and expected to...

Manufacturing in Japan is starting to slow down. The Bank of Japan’s Tankan indicator slipped to 24 from 25, its first decline since Q1 2016. The decline is felt in all major sectors, from textile, paper, chemicals, food and metals...

Brexit pain and a cyclical downturn are weighing on the British pound. Markets will react to the latest proposals for a border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Watch for sterling to lurch negatively, with the GBP/USD failing to break its 50-day moving average and falling to a 0...

South Africa’s central bank confirmed its dovish policy on Wednesday, lowering its interest rate on repos by 25 basis points to 6.50%, its lowest since January 2016. February’s consumer price index shows that inflation is under control at 4% annualised (January: 4...

The USD is in a bear market. Japan’s yen has defied fates by not caving into interest rate differentials, which would have sent USD/JPY significantly higher than its current 106...

The European Central Bank says the Eurozone economy is healthy. Lending to non-financial corporations and households increased by 3% in February, a slight decrease from 3.30% in January and slightly higher than December’s 2.90...

Today’s announcement that January US Pending Home Sales fell 4.7% points to an economic slowdown. It is triggered by the US Federal Reserve’s money-tightening strategy that is finally taking hold, but also by winter weather...

Relationship between the two largest economies does not bode well. The Trump administration memorandum released on Thursday to impose 25% tariffs on Chinese imports worth USD 60 billion is worrying investors. The first signs are already in place: Hong Kong Hang Seng sells off -2...

Markets are on a knife-edge. US President Trumps imposing new trade sanctions against China has meaningfully increased the probability of a trade war. China is unlikely to site idly buy this time around. While at the EU summit, which is expected to discuss the US steel and aluminum tariffs...

Markets are once again bracing for US Trump trade policy “on the fly”. With Rex Tillerson out of the way, Larry Kudlow supporting punitive actions against China and Peter Novara and Wilder Ross steady daring Trump on just about anything could happen today...

As broadly expected the FOMC lifted the Feds fund rate targets by 25bps to 1.50% - 1.75%. Fed members adjusted their forecast so that they reflect their more optimistic view of the US economy. The press statement also underwent changes, all positive...

Elected on Sunday 18 March with a majority of 76%, President Vladimir Vladimirovitch Poutine confirms his fourth and (supposedly) last mandate as President of the Russian Federation, giving a strong signal on international stage and confirming his popularity among the Russian public opinion...

According to the Federal Government’s Expert Group published, Switzerland is also expected to take advantage of the broad-based economic recovery. The SECO revised its growth forecast to the upside as it anticipates that the dynamic recovery will continue. The economy is expected to growth 2...

Further sideways consolidation likely. (By Peter Rosenstreich) • Bitcoin trades indistinctly at the 8200 range, breaking hourly support at 7614 (02/02/2018 low) and expecting to trade sideway in the shortterm...

Following Zhou Xiaochuan retirement announcement five months ago, markets were looking for newly elected People’s Bank of China governor announcement of March 19...

Blowback from scandal deepened today as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took responsibility for the loss of trust in his governments. However he continues to deny that he or his wife had intervened in the sale of land to a connected school operator...

Facing a strong depreciation against the single currency (EUR/CHF at 1.17; +9.04% in 1 year) and anticipating the risk of a potential trade war escalation, the Swiss National Bank finally took the decision to maintain its deposit rate stable at -0.75...

Financial markets are encountering turbulence on the last trading day of the week amid allegation that Trump has fired his national security adviser H.R. McMaster...