Weekly Wrap

The American economy is not in, nor heading for, a recession, no matter what the naysayers in the markets and elsewhere might claim. Thursday provided further confirmation of this point.

After June's dip, many analysts and economists were worried that US retailing was slowing to a crawl and trimmed their estimates for July sales to a modest 0.3% rise.

Iron ore prices fell again on Wednesday after data revealed Chinese crude steel production slumped for a second consecutive month in July.

The monthly labour market report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has again confounded many gloomy analysts and economists by easily surpassing job creation estimates of around 20,000.

Good inflation reports for the US and UK on Wednesday will give the respective central banks solace and set up the first rate cut for America in several years, encouraging a second cut in Britain.

As widely expected, New Zealand’s Reserve Bank has made its first cut in interest rates since early 2021.

Credit data shows China has slid into a form of credit trap, with new loans in July hitting their lowest level in nearly 15 years, at a time when interest rates are at record lows.

Rising tensions in the Middle East saw oil, gold, copper, and silver all rise on Monday, but iron ore bucked the trend with a 2% drop in Asian trading.

Australia finished the 2023-24 financial year with a goods export surplus that was half the size of what it was at the start of last July.

The Federal Reserve has indicated it could start lowering interest rates as early as September, following a decision by US policymakers to maintain borrowing costs at a 23-year high for the eighth consecutive meeting.

Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell has lifted expectations for a rate cut after telling his usual post-meeting media briefing that a rate cut was “on the table” at the central bank’s meeting next month.

There’s a big warning hidden in June’s seemingly strong retail sales figures (ending the 2023-24 financial year) from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for investors and those urging the Reserve Bank to lift rates because inflation is too high.

Once again US job vacancies have confounded forecasts from economists and analysts who were looking for a slide in the number of openings.

Wealthy families and individuals concerned about US government debt levels likely drove a record surge in gold demand during the second quarter, according to an industry report, pushing the price to all-time highs this year.

If this were Australia, the 2.8% first estimate of June quarter economic growth from the US would have caused panic among the worrywarts in the business media and chattering class—not to mention the scaredy cats at the Reserve Bank—who would have been reaching for their ‘Rate Rise Now’ lever before even getting out of bed on Friday morning.

Is there a liquidity crunch emerging in the Chinese money markets and financial system after the country’s central bank raised eyebrows on Thursday with what amounts to a second cut in a key interest rate in four days—an unheard-of move?

Elon Musk’s ‘other world’ approach to corporate reporting caught up with him and Tesla on Wednesday, with the shares shedding 12% of their value and helping drag Wall Street stocks lower.