Tag: economy

China manufacturing contracts in July: govt

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s manufacturing shrank in July, the government said Monday, blaming the deterioration on rainstorms that wreaked havoc across large swathes of the country. It was the first time since February the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed contraction, and according to a Bloomberg News survey it missed economists’ expectations it would flatline. The official PMI came in at 49.9 for July, down from 50.0 the month before and underlining problems in […]

Britain eyes new trade deals in 2019

London, United Kingdom—The minister charged with securing new trade deals for Britain outside the European Union said Sunday he was aiming for a Brexit date of Jan. 1, 2019, as London made overtures toward Australia and Canada. “That’s the date I’m working to, which could be brought forward if necessary,” International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the Sunday Times newspaper. This would involve triggering Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would start a […]

Abe pledges to boost economy as upper house poll campaign begins

  (REUTERS) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began an upper house election campaign on Wednesday with a pledge to rev-up the economy as surveys showed his ruling bloc ahead, despite doubts over Abe’s economic growth recipe. Abe’s coalition is in no danger of losing power in the election but he needs a solid win to keep his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers in line and perhaps stay on another three years after his tenure as […]

Japan economy avoids recession with 0.4% growth in Q1

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) Wednesday 5/18/2016 — Japan sidestepped a feared recession in the first quarter, preliminary data showed Wednesday, but the weak growth reading underscored how Tokyo’s efforts to cement a firm recovery in the world’s number three economy have failed to gain traction. Gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 percent between January and March — or a 1.7 percent annualised rate — after a contraction in the last three months of 2015. But the slightly […]

China manufacturing expands for first time in 9 months, government says

Beijing, China (AFP)—China’s manufacturing activity expanded in March for the first time in nine months, official data showed Friday. The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, which tracks activity in factories and workshops, rebounded to 50.2 last month, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. It was the highest figure in nine months and the first expansion of manufacturing activity since June 2015. The result beat the median expectations of 49.4 in a Bloomberg News survey […]

Obama touts legacy in last State of the Union

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday (January 12) gave his final State of the Union address, stopping about a dozen times for applause as he touted some of the themes he hoped will become his legacy. “Tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty – from helping students learn to write computer code, to personalizing medical treatments for patients. And I’ll keep […]

China’s stock markets open high Friday

China’s stock markets opened high on Friday after trading was halted early in the previous day as a seven-percent drop triggered the newly-introduced circuit breaker mechanism. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened up 2.23 percent at 3,194.63 points Friday morning while the smaller Shenzhen index opened at 11,008.89 points, 2.31 percent up. Trading was halted for the day on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets on Thursday morning after shares tumbled over seven percent and […]

Tokyo stocks start the year down

Japanese stocks began 2016 on a lower note on Monday (January 4), playing catch-up to falls in U.S. stocks in the last two sessions during Japan’s market holidays. The Nikkei benchmark started the first trade of the year down 1 percent at 18818.58. The Nikkei gained around 9 percent last year. In May last year, the Nikkei average surpassed 20,000 for the first time in 15 years, and in August the total value of the […]

China says Fed rate hike to impact trade, but extent not yet clear

The U.S. decision to raise interest rates will have some impact on China’s trade but how much is not immediately known, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday (December 17). The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade on Wednesday (December 16), signalling faith that the U.S. economy had largely overcome the wounds of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The U.S. central bank’s policy-setting committee raised the range of its […]

Yellen, upbeat China trade report buoy risk assets

(Reuters) – Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, as upbeat trade data from China and an optimistic economic outlook from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen whetted investors’ appetite for risk. Investors took heart from the strong performance on Wall Street and lifted MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan about 0.8 percent. Chinese exports handily beat expectations in January, rising 10.6 percent from a year earlier, while imports jumped 10 […]

Yellen says Fed on track to keep trimming stimulus

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank was on track to keep reducing its policy stimulus, even as she acknowledged the labor market recovery was “far from complete.” In her first public comments as Fed chief, Yellen said the central bank would need to keep its eye on a broad range of labor market indicators, not just the unemployment rate, as it continued to assess the health of […]