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American markets took a breather today as better-than-expected numbers from Germany outweighed reports from Eastern Europe that a number of countries had slipped into recession. Today, we’ll look into Russian GDP growth, Greek elections, and the future viability of the Latin American free trade agreement Mercosur.
India’s economy (EPI, quote) took another turn for the worse this week when data released yesterday indicated a rise in consumer prices, bucking a trend of decreasing inflation.
While the world was fretting last week about the poor data from the People’s Republic of China, observers like Goldman Sachs emerging market guru Jim O’Neill were heartened by the potential confirmation of a necessary change in the Chinese economy’s (FXI, quote) composition.
Depsite the upside surprise from German GDP, two of Germany’s largest steelmakers – ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter, announced in overnight trading an unexpectedly gloomy outlook for the remainder of the year.
Brazil’s policy of weakening its currency to make exports more competitive has worked – maybe too well.
The “dogs of the Dow” approach is well known in U.S. large-cap investing, but global traders can find endless ideas picking through the wreckage of the worst-performing emerging market ETFs as well. At the moment, the Global X China Materials fund (CHIM, quote) qualifies as the dirtiest dog at the table.
U.S. futures point to a positive open on the back of the euro zone being green across the board with a ray of light penetrating the European cloud of uncertainty.
Talking about shifting planting patterns and China’s hunger for corn is all well and good, but in an environment where the U.S. dollar is riding high, just about all major commodity markets are feeling the pressure. Food is not immune.
On Friday silver closed basically where it started the year, then continued trading down on the first day of this week, down -2.16% with an hour before the U.S. market close.
In the wake of disappointing economic data last week, the Chinese government has decided to implement measures to spur the economy. And while these measures may make Chinese banks attractive in the short-term, it will do little to solve the underlying problems in the Chinese financial sector.
