ASIA: Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices declined this week, tracking European gas prices which fell due to stable Russian gas flows and LNG supply. The average LNG price for April delivery into north-east Asia was estimated at $38.00 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), down $2.50, or 6.2% from the previous week, […]

While just about every historical piece on the Black Plague you will read tells the story from the plague perspective. However, I look at history differently. I always correlate everything from all sides and what all the reports on the Black Plague overlook are the economics of the crisis. While there are no GDP records, […]

ASIA: Retail sales growth in China bounced back in October, while industrial production also beat expectations. Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending in the world’s most populous nation, grew by 4.9 percent in October compared with a year earlier, up from the 4.4 percent increase in September, and above the estimate for a […]

We will take a short recess from Market Talk to focus on this year’s annual World Economic Conference. The conference will take place in Orlando, FL, but virtual tickets are still available. Click here to learn more. ASIA: China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for October came in at 49.2 over the weekend, below the […]

ASIA: Japan’s economy likely shrank over the summer as a Covid surge and supply bottlenecks slammed an already feeble recovery, according to estimates by several economists just two days before the nation goes to the polls. The economy likely contracted by 1.1% on an annualized basis in the three months to September, Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist […]

ASIA: Shares in China Evergrande Group’s electric vehicles (EV) unit rose on Monday as the embattled property developer moved to prioritize the growth of its nascent EV business over its troubled core real estate operations. Evergrande rose as much as 6% during the session before closing down 0.7%. China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd […]

Once “we get the pandemic under control, the global economy comes back, these pressures will mitigate and I believe will go back to normal levels,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated, echoing “transitory” sentiments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Powell believes supply chain bottlenecks are the main culprit for inflation. Well, the Biden Administration appointed the […]

Inflation continued to surge, reaching 5.4% in September. Janet Yellen has never been right about anything and keeps calling this “transitory,” as if it will vanish in a few weeks. The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, which is supposed to measure a basket of goods and services as well as energy and food costs, came […]

ASIA: Goldman Sachs cut China’s growth forecast to 7.8 percent this year from the previously estimated 8.2 percent, as the world’s second largest economy faces “yet another growth shock” in the form of constraints on energy consumption. The country is already battling to save Evergrande amid fears that Chinese property behemoth could turn out into […]

ASIA: China’s ambitious foreign infrastructure push has saddled poor nations with “hidden debt” worth $385 billion, and more than a third of the projects have been hit by alleged corruption scandals and protests, a study said Wednesday. Research from international development research lab AidData said that opaque deals with state banks and companies under President […]