US Economy Records Steepest Contraction in 12 yrs
The US economy contracted by an annual rate of 4.8% in 1Q2020, halting the lengthiest time frame of growth in the nation’s history, as per advance estimate. Notably, the GDP shrank at the sharpest rate in 12 years, far worse
Read MoreSouth African Rand Weakens to 18 Mark Against Greenback
The South African rand weakened above the 18 level against the greenback Friday as investors were worried that tensions between Beijing and Washington could heighten further after China made initiatives to implement a fresh security law in Hong Kong. Last
Read MoreUS Factory Activity Contracts for 3rd Successive Month while Turkey Delivers 9th Rate Cut
Turkish lira remained unchanged at 6.80 against the greenback yesterday, as the 50 basis points rate cut announced by the Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT- Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankası or TCMB) was in line with analysts’ estimates. The rate cut
Read MoreUS Housing Starts, Building Permits Plummets to Lowest Level in 5 Years
In the US, housing starts plummeted 30.2% m-o-m to 891,000 in April, missing economists’ forecasts of 927,000. Housing activity froze due to limitations enforced to prevent the Covid-19 outbreak, leading to the lowest level since February 2015. Housing starts for
Read MoreColombia GDP Contracts 4.9% y-o-y in March
The Colombian peso fell 0.71% against the greenback to close at 3,904.78 Friday following the release of economic data which indicated a sharp economic contraction on y-o-y basis in March 2020. Notably, on yearly basis, the country’s retail sales also
Read MoreNew Zealand Manufacturing PMI Hits New Low while Mexico Trims Interest Rate by 50bps
According to the Business New Zealand, the Performance of Manufacturing Index decreased to 26.1 in April 2020, from 38 in March 2020. The reading reflected the lowest level in manufacturing activity since the series started getting published. All five sub-indices
Read MoreMexican Industrial Output Declines to Lowest Level in 9-yrs While China CPI Misses Expectations
The Mexican peso gained 0.05% to trade at 24.3379 against the greenback despite a 5% m-o-m drop in the industrial production in March, following an amended 2% decline in the earlier month and compared with economists expectation for a 6.1%
Read MoreCrude Gains For Second Successive Week Despite 20.5mln Job Losses in US
Wall Street ended strongly in green Friday in spite of a new historical job loss of 20.50 million in April and a record high unemployment rate of 14.7%. Stocks gained on investors’ optimism about reopening of the economy soon and
Read MoreJapan Services PMI Records New Historical Low in April
The Japanese yen is losing ground against the greenback after the release of a series of poor PMI (Composite, services) and household sepnding data from Japan. At the time of writing this article, the USD/JPY pair was trading at 106.45.
Read MoreAustralia Composite & Services PMI Declines to New Low
The Aussie rallied against the greenback despite the data published by the Ai Group indicated a steep fall in the Australian Performance of Construction Index. Likewise, the composite and services PMI (purchasing managers’ index) also recorded a historical low reading.
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