Low oil prices have given American consumers persist low inflation over recent years. Now that some of President Trump's policies have begun to swing into effect, it's all about to change. But, is that any reason to worry? Perhaps not, if you invest in commodities and precious metals. Trump's anti-migrant stance has already affected wage rises, but so have long overdue price rises of commodities and manufactured goods. Charles Schwab, the banking company, in its 2017 outlook put inflation at the top of its list of concerns for the bull market in stocks (domestic and international). Their concern is that rising wages will be a hit against corporate earnings.
The Greek financial crisis is so severe that this week they find themselves on the verge of collapse once more. Although Eurozone finance ministers noted fiscal progress at their most recent review on 26th January, a deadlock was reached with the IMF over the country's future bailout targets. This resulted in tumbling share prices and soaring 10-year bond yields the following day, as reported by Reuters.
Last year, with little coverage from major media or notice by many analysts, the world shipping industry entered dire straits and slipped into a dangerous and unprecedented decline. It later stabilized, but for a moment there we thought we were witnessing the start of the biggest economic downturn since the financial crisis of 2008. We now know that the historic decline was a direct result of China’s economic slowdown of 2016, but there are other factors at work here.
These are quite interesting times for China. After several decades of unprecedented economic boom, the Chinese central government in Beijing recently acknowledged the gradual decline of economic growth, and that it must take measures. President Xi Jinping expressed the opinion that economic stability is more important to the country than a high rate of GDP growth. The central government subsequently announced its decision late last year to accept GDP growth rates lower than 6.5%.
