ASIA:   The major Asian stock markets had a green day today: NIKKEI 225 increased 392.70 points or 1.37% to 29,069.16 Shanghai increased 14.14 points or 0.39% to 3,630.11 Hang Seng increased 56.80 points or 0.24% to 23,280.56 ASX 200 closed Kospi increased 20.69 points or 0.69% to 3,020.24 SENSEX increased 477.24 points or 0.83% […]

ASIA: Japan’s government is set to unveil its largest annual budget on Friday with $943 billion in spending for the fiscal year beginning next April, further straining the industrial world’s heaviest debt, Reuters reported. The first annual budget to be compiled by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government got a boost from Covid-19 countermeasures, social security […]

ASIA: Debt problems at a major Chinese property developer have now spilled over into a vital artery of the nation’s industrial engine – the steel sector – and started to ripple through to other critical parts of the world’s second-largest economy. The spreading balance-sheet crisis at real estate firms is a warning for policymakers as […]

QUESTION: Marty; would you comment on David Stockman’s insistence that the fundamental consequence of 30 years of Fed-fueled financial asset inflation is that the prices of stocks and bonds have way overshot the mark. Thank you HW ANSWER: David Stockman was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985) under President Ronald Reagan. […]

The pinnacle of health, athletes seem to have an edge over the rest of society. Their grueling workout and nutrition programs, mixed with natural genetic athleticism, puts them ahead of others in the natural immunity category. So why are young athletes suddenly collapsing and/or dying from heart complications? The sports world has mostly mandated vaccines […]

ASIA: India surpassed Brazil in food exports to the League of Arab States for the first time in 15 years as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade flows in 2020, according to data provided by the Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce to Reuters on Tuesday. Brazil accounted for 8.15% of the total agribusiness products imported by the […]

ASIA: China’s foreign exchange regulator issued guidelines on foreign exchange trading on Friday, targeting market manipulation, fraud, and abuses. The guidelines would help regulate foreign exchange market trading and promote “honest, fair, orderly, and efficient” market operations, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said. According to the guidelines, market participants would be barred from manipulating […]

ASIA: China’s property downturn is expected to continue into the first half of 2022, with home prices and sales falling as tight credit policies and a looming property tax dampen demand, a Reuters poll showed. Home prices are expected to drop 1.0% in H1 2022 and Property investment in H1 2022 is expected to slump […]

ASIA: Japan’s economy contracted much faster than expected in the third quarter as global supply disruptions and fresh COVID-19 cases hit business and consumer spending, raising challenges for the new government’s growth plans. The economy shrank an annualized 3.0% in July-September after a revised 1.5% gain in the first quarter, preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) […]

ASIA: China’s factory activity unexpectedly picked up in November, growing for the first time in three months as the crippling surge in raw material prices and power rationing eased, taking some pressure off the manufacturing sector. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.1 in November from 49.2 in October, data from the […]