Japan has been hit by a double-whammy: the global fall in trade, made worse by its (formerly) rising yen. While deteriorating conditions in China generally get more media attention, the falloff in Japan is stunning and serious. Japan has spent more than a decade stagnant, but the overall growth figures mask the fact that the […]
Read more...So much for the theory that the rise in the Baltic Dry Index meant that trade volumes were recovering. From Lloyd’s List (hat tip reader Michael): Asian container ports are bracing themselves for a grim year ahead as they report alarming drops in volumes in January. Box throughput at Singapore, the world’s largest container port […]
Read more...As much as some optimists would like to find evidence of recovery, it is far more likely that the US will see a further deterioration in economic activity. We have not yet seen much in the way of bankrupticies and debt restructuring. Until this sort of thing becomes sadly routine, the bottom is not yet […]
Read more...Japan has long had a two-tier economy: a robust export sector and a comatose domestic economy. With the yen at a high level and trade volumes generally falling, the export sector has gone spectacularly into reverse gear, taking overall growth with it. From Bloomberg: Japan’s economy shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace last quarter, […]
Read more...It is risky indeed for someone like me, on the other side of the world, commenting on a country with spotty economic data (a function of size and maturity of its information gathering apparatus, as well as possible intent to put lipstick on pigs) to take issue with an emerging consensus. Nevertheless, I will stick […]
Read more...The big year to year fall in Chinese exports, at 17.%, far in excess of expectations, was accompanied by an even bigger decline in imports, still leaving China with a near-record monthly trade surplus. Thus, while China’s foreign exchange reserves are continuing to mount, the fall in each side of the trade equation, exports and […]
Read more...On the one hand, the demand by China that the US somehow guarantee its $682 billion in Treasury holding reads like a political and negotiating strategem rolled into one. It reenforces the idea that the economic crisis is the solely the fault of the corrupt, profligate West and it constitutes a demand that the US […]
Read more...Apparently America is not becoming a banana republic quickly enough to suit some big US companies. I heard last week that a friend’s sister, 57 years old and a very long standing IBM employee, had been offered the choice of either losing her job, or being sent to India or Latin America. In the old […]
Read more...Oof, that key phrase in Martin Wolf’s column in the Financial Times, “Why Davos Man is waiting for Obama to save him,” is only slightly more cheery than, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Wolf gives a quick recap of Davos, recent international economic forecasts and market developments, which is worth reading, and then […]
Read more...Before we get to the substance of this post, I feel compelled to address the responses I have increasingly been getting when I post on unemployment in China, particularly demonstrations by workers (who often show up to work, find the factory shuttered and themselves stiffed for their last paycheck) and the fact that many of […]
Read more...To be fair, Willem Buiter’s latest post strives for a bit of gallows humor via its title, “YES WE CAN!! have a global depression if we really continue to work at it…,” before getting down to serious business, namely, that the powers that be risk missing the opportunity to salvage the global economy. What makes […]
Read more...When we have featured articles that mention growing unrest in China, we’ve been told that it’s overblown. The usual arguments: most of the people losing their jobs in Guangdong were young women who could go back to the provinces; that the violence wasn’t organized and hence posed not real threat to the authorities; that the […]
Read more...I am the first to say that I do not understand the whims of the market, but today we saw a pretty schizophrenic display. Attention in the US focused on the Fed’s Open Market Committee statement. Earlier this week, not much was expected, since the Fed is somewhat constrained by fact that the Obama team […]
Read more...The forecast for a global international contraction by the Institute of International Finance is significant because it is the first to project negative growth for 2009. That may seem unexceptional to some readers. However, the IMF is forecasting growth of 1.5% for 2009, which it actually sees as a serious recessionary level. Why? Emerging economies […]
Read more...Wellie, lots of commentators (see here and here for a sampling) have taken note that Timothy Geithner contradicted himself royally today in his Congressional testimony. And mind you, this was WRITTEN testimony, so one cannot give him the benefit of the doubt (such as that he did a bad job of tap dancing when faced […]
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