ASIA: The Indian government announced some fresh relief measures for the economy, the first such package after the second COVID-19 wave, focusing largely on extending loan guarantees and concessional credit for pandemic-hit sectors and investments to ramp up healthcare capacities. The government pegged the total financial implications of the package, which included the reiteration of […]

ASIA:   China’s debt has grown dramatically over the past decade and is one of the biggest economic challenges confronting the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a major online news agency reported. The pandemic last year hit China’s economic growth and prompted authorities to make it easier for companies to get loans. As a result, China’s […]

ASIA:   The major Asian stock markets had a negative day today: NIKKEI 225 decreased 235.41 points or -0.81% to 28,812.61 Shanghai decreased 33.19 points or -0.92% to 3,573.18 Hang Seng decreased 274.20 points or -0.94% to 28,994.10 ASX 200 decreased 6.10 points or -0.08% to 7,301.20 Kospi decreased 15.21 points or -0.46% to 3,286.68 […]

ASIA: Washington’s effort to bring manufacturing from China to the US – so-called reshoring – is nothing but “empty talk” and the US will become increasingly dependent on the world’s second-largest economy for the foreseeable future, according to a top former Chinese economic official. Wei Jianguo, a former vice commerce minister said “The US will […]

ASIA: Russia and China have presented a plan to build the joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The proposed lunar base is intended to be ready for crewed visits by 2036 and is unrelated to the American-led Artemis program, which has pledged to land “the first woman and person of color” on the moon by […]

ASIA: A report published by United Nations Development Programme highlights that trade shocks fueled by unilateral tariffs between the U.S. and China have undone three to five years’ worth of growth among global value chains in affected countries. The report found looking at the post-pandemic future of global value chains found that trade within those […]

COMMENT: Marty, You have written much about the period 1927-1929 dominated by the relationship between Monatgue Norman and Benjamin Strong; how pressure from Britain to keep rates in the US lower was intended to relieve pressure from Europeans fleeing for the US, attracted by our faster growth. It seems eerily similar today, the conditions now with the US, first […]

ASIA: India’s antitrust watchdog on Tuesday ordered an investigation into allegations that Alphabet Inc’s Google abused its Android operating system’s position in the country’s smart television market. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which last year began looking into a case filed by two lawyers against the U.S. tech giant, said its initial review found Google had […]

COMMENT: Martin, My brother is in town today, and instead of discussing religion (always colorful, as he is agnostic and I am evangelical), we were discussing politics. He is fleeing San Francisco because of their covid lockdowns and is appalled that his liberal friends took the whole narrative hook, line, and sinker. He calls himself a […]

ASIA: China’s imports from Saudi Arabia fell 21% in May from a year earlier but retained their top ranking among suppliers for the ninth month in a row, customs data showed on Sunday. Shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.2 million tonnes last month, or 1.69 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration […]