ASIA: US President Trump signaled on Friday that China wants to make a deal with the US. That the deal could happen in the US, more specifically the state of Iowa, signaling the fact that the trade deal will help farmers the most. In Japan, Microsoft piloted a 4-day work week and saw productivity jump […]

ASIA: The Asia Pacific trade pact is in jeopardy of stalling after India voiced last minute hesitations. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would free trade between 16 countries whose collective GDP composes 1/3 of the global economy. Leaders from all 16 nations are set to meet in Bangkok on Monday. However, India voiced reluctancy […]

ASIA: The US is not the only one suffering the ill effects of the trade war, as China announced its sixth consecutive month of manufacturing declines. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.3 in October from 49.8 the month prior. A reading below 50 signals a contraction. Non-manufacturing fell as well to 52.8 in […]

The Federal Reserve, as expected, cut rates a quarter-point. The Fed also warned that further moves to ease interest rate policy may be coming to an end. The rate cut of 25 basis points to a range of 1.5% to 1.75% has been the third cut this year, which Fed Chairman Powell characterized as a […]

ASIA: Chile has canceled the APEC summit due to domestic protests. The summit was due to take place next month where it was expected that the US and China may sign an agreement for “phase 1” of the trade deal. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said today that the deal is still expected to be […]

ASIA: According to Reuters, a US official has said that a lot of progress needs to be done in drafting the US-China deal and will not be ready in time for the meeting in Chile. “Our goal is to sign it in Chile. But sometimes texts aren’t ready. But good progress is being made and we expect […]

QUESTION: Might you clarify this response you gave on one of your very recent blogs. You said bail-in may NOT be permitted on US soil. Did you mean that despite the laws written in the USA to allow it, you don’t think it is likely to happen to USA citizens banking in the USA? OR […]

ASIA: Hong Kong has officially withdrawn the extradition bill that caused the massive outbreak in social unrest in the country. According to media, the next step for mainland China would be to remove Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam. Protestors seem to rubbish the recent government actions and say there still a lot more demands that […]

ASIA: No real news coming out today regarding the US and China trade deal. Positivity surrounds the recent round of talks, although phase 1 has not been approved. However, China is still pressing the US to lift all tariffs prior to a deal being reached. Still, there are a few non-tariff related issues that are […]

ASIA: China and the US seem to have struck an agreement on how to proceed with the trade deal. Both countries acknowledge that continuing the trade war would not be beneficial to anyone. Over the weekend, Vice Premier Liu He said that the US and China were working at addressing each other’s core concerns – […]