The way I look at the global economy, there are basically five different zones. The first is the US and the second is Europe. China might be third on this list but often second if not first in terms of what’s driving marginal changes. In behind those is Japan, not what it once was but still often a bellwether for [...]
It’s hard to believe it was only about three months ago. Time flies when disaster unfolds all around you. In early June, Brazil’s central bank arranged a press conference where its President Ilan Goldfajn would set everyone straight. The currency was falling, he admitted, but it would be easily handled by closely following the Portuguese version of the global central [...]
The Japanese have been encouraged today by the notion that their economy might actually be finding a recovery – as economists see it. As with so many other things in this QE period, the very definition of recovery seems to be up for debate in sharp contrast to accepted economic standards not all that long ago. The issue, really, is [...]
Japan’s GDP grew by 2.2% in Q4 but that was far less than the 3.7% expected by economists. As a whole, consumer spending and business investment remained quite weak, “unexpectedly” so, confounding interpretations that Japan was heading in the right direction after its brief, sharp slump. Japan’s economy pulled out of recession more slowly than expected last quarter, with soft [...]
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