Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand with news markets are roaring with positivity today.
First, US jobless claims came in as expected last week at +203,000 and the total number of people on these benefits remained steady at 1.45 mln, and still an historic low.
But the Q1 GDP number did not come in as expected, recording a surprising fall from the prior quarter when a rise was expected. But this was mostly due to a record trade deficit, softer inventory growth, and a drop in government spending. Meanwhile, personal consumption and nonresidential and residential fixed investment remained strong. This same data showed that the inflation pressure might have eased in the period too, which was also a surprise. But we must note that these are 'advance' results, and there are two more revisions due over coming weeks, so they could change. And in nominal terms, American GDP rose at a +6.9% annual rate in the first quarter to be running at a rate of US$24.383 tln of economic activity and +10.6% higher than a year ago.
Markets picked up on the strong consumption data, seeing the other Q1 factors weighing on the overall result as temporary, and have turned bullish. The US dollar is surging.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Fed's factory survey reported a continuing strong expansion, even if it was down from the March boom result.
The US Treasury has another bond auction overnight, this one for their 7-year bond and it too was well supported. The median yield was 2.84% vs 2.43% at the month-ago prior event.
In China, employment is being ‘hit quite hard’ by the pandemic. Tough enforcement of pandemic restrictions has forced factories and businesses to close over the last two months. The country's unemployment rate had already risen to 5.8% in March, and now a record 10.8 million college graduates are set to enter their jobs market this year, compounding the strain. There will be a growing cadre of disappointed workers there.
Meanwhile, China has cut its tariff on imported coal to zero, reinforcing the perception it is facing energy stress. It's a very rare move from Beijing.
Japanese housing start data for March surprised. It rose strongly in February and was expected to revert in March, but in fact that +6% expansion continued into March.
Taiwanese Q1 GDP was also released overnight and that came in marginally better than expected at a +3.1% annual rate. Although this was well down on year-ago rates the expansion in Q1-2022 over Q4-2021 surprised on the high side.
German inflation for April was reported overnight and it came in higher than expected at 7.4%. Some major costs like energy prices actually fell, which was a surprise. But that was more than covered by sharp rising food prices.
And Germany, which had been one of the main opponents of sanctioning the EU’s oil and gas trade with Russia, is now ready to stop buying Russian oil, clearing the way for an EU-wide ban on crude imports from Russia, government officials said. That comes just as energy utility Uniper said it would start paying in rubles for the gas it buys for Germany.
Sweden raised their official rates from 0% to 0.25% overnight and signaled that more hikes are on their way. This is something of a u-turn in policy, unexpected, and the Swedes are now joining in the global fight against inflation.
The slowdown in the Chinese economy is resulting in lower container shipping rates with yet another small retreat last week. But we are not really seeing the same trend for bulk cargoes.
The UST 10yr yield starts today up +4 bps at 2.86% as markets lock in their Fed bets for next Thursday's announcement. The UST 2-10 rate curve is a little flatter at +22 bps. But their 1-5 curve is steeper at +87 bps. Their 30 day-10yr curve is much steeper at +257 bps. The Australian ten year bond is now at 3.16% and up +9 bps. The China Govt ten year bond is up +1 bp at 2.87%. And the New Zealand Govt ten year is actually down -3 bps at 3.61%.
On Wall Street, the S&P500 is roaring today, up +2.7% in late afternoon Thursday trade. Overnight, European markets all rose another +1% overnight led by Frankfurt. Yesterday Tokyo ended its Thursday session up +1.8% and more than making up the prior day's retreat. Hong Kong was also up +1.7% on the day. And Shanghai gained a further +0.7% on the stimulus announcements. The ASX200 ended yesterday up +1.3%. The NZX50 ended also ended up +1.3%.
The price of gold starts today down -US$1 since this time yesterday at US$1890/oz.
And oil prices are up +US$2 at just on US$104/bbl in the US while the international Brent price is now just under US$107/bbl.
The Kiwi dollar will open today softer again at 65 USc and nearing a two-year low. Against the Australian dollar we are soft too at 91.5 AUc. And against the euro we are marginally softer at 61.9 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at 72.5 and that is only a two-month low.
The bitcoin price is up +2.6% from this time yesterday at US$40,108. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been moderate at just over +/- 2.0%.
The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».
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113 Comments
Must be time to raise the OCR again?
It might get really interesting if the NZD/USD is down in the 0.50's and we are still importing high inflation....in the past 20 years, the times that our exchange rate as been that low, has been associated with deflationary shocks like the GFC and COVID in 2020 and dropping the OCR. This time it might be the reverse where we are raising the OCR as opposed to dropping it which could be very different to anything we experienced in recent history.
Ms Georgieva from the IMF indicated her dovishness on rates, warning that some countries could “hit the wall” on higher debt costs.
“For some, it was cheaper to pay for more debt in 2021 because of the drop in interest rates, but in 2022 it’s different. We have to brace ourselves for quite a number of low-income countries, some middle-income countries, to hit the wall”.
“We have to help countries restructure that early. Do all you can to extend maturities,” she said.
“If we don’t, then down the road this year, we may be in a very difficult place.
Powell, IMF split on rates amid fear countries could ‘hit a wall’ (afr.com)
Asian crisis redux?
The Asian Crisis: Causes and Cures
"Analysis suggests that the chances of a currency or banking crisis are increased when the economy is overheated: inflation is high, the real exchange rate has appreciated, the current account deficit has widened, domestic credit has been growing rapidly, and asset prices have become inflated."
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1998/06/imfstaff.htm
Govt only pays the interest (coupon) rate that is set at the time of the bond sale. So, if Govt had borrowed $10bn in late 2020 at 0.5% and bought tens of thousands of solar panels for the roofs of all kainga ora homes (for example) that would now look like a ridiculously smart investment.
Rather than blush with embarrassment, I wish I could give KH another uptick. Some say we're settling into a few years of debt rollovers to higher interest rates, not just on mortgage debts, a topic well discussed on this message board, but on all debts including government debt. In that scenario both private sector and government finances are in for the sort of shakeup we haven't seen since the late 80's and early 90's in New Zealand. Anybody who thinks the shift in their personal mortage rates is an issue should spare a thought for the finance minister over the next few years. He's got a bigger issue than any mortgage holder.
The government did a good job of issuing debt at low interest rates in 2020, and I'm not in a position to know how much more the market might have absorbed at the rock bottom rates then prevalent. However we did effectively refinance a reasonable chunk of our government debt, evidenced by 35.8 billion of the debt (re)financed in 2020 and early 2021 at rock bottom interest rates. I'm not sure how much more we could have placed in the market at that time.
While a large proportion of government debt is of long maturity, there is a significant amount of continual rollover of this debt. As an example government debt of $13.95 billion with issue date of 6 April 2020 at interest rate of 0.50% matures on 15 May 2024. This will need refinanced to the prevailing interest rate of the time unless the government is able to repay it at maturity. Per the interest rate charts on this site, between end of April 2020 and end of April 2022, secondary market yield on NZ government 5 year debt has moved from 0.28% to 3.63% and over the same time frame secondary market yield on 2 year debt has moved from 0.00% to 3.41%. Those NZ government bond interest rates are on an even sharper uptrend than mortgage rates or the swap market and we'd all better pray those commentators who think interest rates will peak and rapidly fall again are correct.
Source of figures https://debtmanagement.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/media/media… and https://www.interest.co.nz/charts/interest-rates/government-bond-rates
Yes he was, as was Ardern. But are you really surprised?
Those two will say (and do) absolutely anything necessary to get their ideological way and deny all responsibility for the problems they create, regardless of the damage they have, are, and will cause before they get the boot.
I'm enjoying the reduction in debt, sold an investment property, paid off most of that mortgage, finished my own renovation and increased monthly payments on all remaining mortgage debt while interest rates were low. I've basically halved my mortgage exposure and still have almost all debt at rates around 2%. That might change soon, but in the meantime, Robertson looks more and more stupid, and keeps spending more and more debt fuelled money.
It's like a scorched earth policy as they get kicked out in the next election.
Food for thought
Well, I've now had the rare experience of Pākehā complaining to me about racism.
That experience was kicked off by a piece I wrote last week. In that piece I challenged the argument from the likes of ACT leader David Seymour that Māori were gaining some special rights over water. I stood that argument on its head by pointing out that there is a minority that already has significant property rights over water - Pākehā farmers.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/now-that-ive-got-your-attention?utm_source=F…
... all of our natural assets ought to be vested in the crown ... thereby we all own the water , the air , the land ... by virtue of being citizens ..
And as such , the government should enact taxes on these assets to ensure they're used efficiently ... dairy farmers , I'm looking straight at you !
Gaining a resource consent is not an exclusive right to a particular race, so the racial premise of the article fails on the first hurdle.
Ngāi Tahu Farming is a burgeoning farming business that manages dairy, dairy grazing, sheep and beef grazing along with high country farming operations at Lake Whakatipu.
Of course Profile's only takeaway would be that....at least he/she is consistent every day
So yes, dairy farmers do own water in this country and lots of it. And most of them are Pākehā. Māori have significant farming interests but they are small compared with the farms owned by Pākehā. Māori farms are owned by iwi and hapu collectives and the leadership have to answer to shareholders who are their own whānau, and they take a dim view of their rivers being polluted. There's nothing an iwi board member fears more than an old kuia giving them a tongue-lashing in a shareholders meeting. Pākehā farmers answer to the banks and the banks are only interested in the figure at the bottom of the balance sheet.
Too subtle for your you eh profile. To be expected. Here's a link to the first article.
It was a hopeless article from Aaron Smale.
1. It's unlikely Seymour sees Pakeha Farmers with water rights as a huge group and source of votes.
2. We need, have, and will have a system deciding who has rights, and who can't have water rights. Thus there will be somebody who has a protected right. That's fair. They don't own it. Some 'rights' are time limited.
3. What Aaron Smale got seriously wrong was saying it was about ownership of water. When what Seymour was really debating was Maori 'control' of water on a racial basis.
And in my area Ngai Tahu seeks control but their past attempts to establish dirty dairy in the fragile Hurunui district (which were denied them properly) shows them improper to be making any the allocation decisions.
Huh?
1. I guarantee David Seymour sees pakeha farmers as very fertile ground for votes and is probably disappointed how many of these votes he has lost post Luxon’s ascension.
2. Having an exclusive right of use for 20-30 years is effectively ownership - In all the reports of water consents I’ve seen that is the timeframe discussed. And the fact these consents are granted for free is nuts.
3. This ignores the whole point, we are scare mongering about Māori ‘controlling’ water when many people already control water. Obviously as of today there are groups with more rights than others. The hypocrisy is the congestive dissonance that both believes nobody should control water but also the existing people who control water should continue to have the rights to do so.
And as for the example. People with land can get useful water rights and people without can’t. Well that is convenient when some groups have land and some groups don’t. Especially when Māori you know had their land knicked.
Look, I agree the issue is more complex than David Seymour is a racist, but clearly there is a lot wrong with allocating water rights for extremely long periods of time for free on a first come first serve basis.
@ Hardly.
a. So what"s your suggestion. That there are no controls on water? I don"t think you would want that.
We do need systems to say yes and no to various demands on water. No way round that.
b. Landless folk do get access and indeed right to water. Aucklanders domestic supply in part comes from the Waikato river. (and it took a protracted process to get there)
c. You like to call it scaremongering. False flag argument. You can disagree with the opinion, but please accept many people are very concerned about the threat to one person one vote democracy.
1. I think it's more likely that Seymour looked upon Groundswell as fertile grounds
2. Guess the banks that up-value a farm once they've got their water consent are just being hopeful.
3. Ownership v Control. Interesting debate to be had there.
Ngai Tahu should do better IMO. But that doesn't give a 'whataboutism' pass to other dairy farmers.
I'm sympathetic to farmers on the whole. I think they've been led down the garden path. And I find it distasteful the backlash that the current generation of farmers are getting. I think the government has a big responsibility in laying out a way back up that path and doing so without just an endless list of new regulations and costs piled on top of each other. This quick and simplistic approach is playing havoc with real people.
Good grief. The writer was throwing the Act/Seymour race card straight back at them. i,e if you wanna argue race..then look at the 'race' that currently has the majority of water rights.
Was that point just to subtle for you all??
End of the day water is an asset with value and it should be treated as such. If Act was true to it's capitalist approach is should be arguing as such - but no, they will not do this to their voters.
Act and Seymour are fake capitalists - only when it suits their base.
So are you saying that Maori farmers are being denied water rights while Pakeha farmers get them?
There are a lot of Maori farmers around the country and if that were happening, I'd be very surprised. So the argument is in fact about economics not race and your article was racist.
No it's a simple question. to argue that the allocation of water rights is based on race, requires the fact that people are being actively denied water right because of their race, not that the majority of water rights happen to be held by the majority race.
If he had argued that people are being disadvantage by the allocation of water rights, i.e. farmers are getting too much access that is having a detrimental impact on other users then he would get a lot more support, and this is much more widely accepted already. But as I understand his argument he is arguing that because most farmers are Pakeha and farmers get a lot of water rights then the allocation of water rights is racist, which in itself is a flawed premise.
He is better served to argue that poor economic policy that favours wealthy groups and individuals (some of whom will be Maori) has a disproportionate impact on the non-wealthy who also disproportionately number a lot of Maori (but not only Maori). it is not racism that has the negative impact, it is poor policy favouring wealth, and it impacts on all middle and lower socio-economic classes. And it has been going on for over 100 years. This is a much more relevant and important debate. Sound economic policy would benefit all classes but especially the lower socio-economic groups and again as Maori are disproportionately represented there, they would benefit disproportionately.
That's not my take at all. Perhaps the problem is everyone is reading it form their own narrative.
My take is that the author believes Act is being racist by attacking the Maorification of water when the real issue is the control and ownership is now very much in the hands of an elite group - and if one wants to bring race into it - then its currently a white bias.
For the record I'm not into co-governance. But nor am I a fan of regional councils dominated by those who allocate to themselves over downstream users (i.e polluting our waters).
Perhaps a National body would prevent this..perhaps not?
Panama just passed it’s Bitcoin bill 40-0, granting legal status, and eliminating capital gains tax.
https://twitter.com/bitcoinmagazine/status/1519733000111546371?s=21&t=i…
DId you stop to think that maybe its the citizens in those countries that will benefit the most from Bitcoin because their covernments are shit?
2010: "A bitcorn?"
2011: "No one uses it"
2012: "Only a few geeks use it"
2014: "Only a few criminals use it"
2015: "Only a few libertarians use it"
2017: "Only a few people use it"
2020: "Only a few companies use it"
2022: "Only a few countries use it"
Of course the first countries to use Bitcoin will be the most desperate countries (countries with high levels of poverty, crime rates, and corruption). Being the first, or one of the first, countries to adopt Bitcoin is a massive leap of faith.
The countries the most inclined toward taking a massive leap of faith are the countries that are the most desperate (i.e. countries with nothing to lose). But as more and more countries adopt it, it requires less of a leap of faith to use Bitcoin. Eventually countries that are less desperate may find themselves using it.
That's the theory anyway. Remains to be proven. But every company and country that takes that leap of faith and starts using Bitcoin further solidifies the argument that this will spread given enough time.
You make out like three small, impoverished nations using Bitcoin as a currency is no big deal - if you went back ten years and suggested that would happen by 2022 you would be laughed out of the building (even given how small and impoverished these countries are). Right now, if you were to suggest Argentina, or Brazil, or Turkey, or Estonia were to use Bitcoin, you would be laughed out of the room too. I'm excited to see in ten years time if that laughter will be proven correct. I suspect not.
El Salvador began purchasing bitcoin last year when it was trading at around $50,000 per token, and Bloomberg estimates the country has bought at least 1,801 coins. Most recently that country purchased 410 bitcoin for $15 million last Friday. Bitcoin has fallen nearly 50% since its peak in early November, which puts El Salvador’s loss at about $20 million, according to Bloomberg. The leading cryptocurrency was trading at $36,671 on Tuesday afternoon, a slight rise from Saturday when it fell below $35,000 and marked its lowest level since July.
Bukele’s adoption of bitcoin was met with widespread protests as Salvadorans complained it would benefit investors and not regular people in the country, where nearly half of the population does not have internet access.
Hi dollar_bill,
I totally agree. El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin was little more than a PR stunt and I am worried that it will adversely affect the lives of the El Salvadorian people.
But I want to make clear - my comment above did not say it was a good thing that these countries adopted bitcoin. The truth is, no-one can know, because there hasn't been enough time to figure out what the consequences of adopting it will be.
My comment was simply stating that no-one should be surprised that the first countries to adopt bitcoin are impoverished, poor, corrupt, and otherwise desperate. Those countries typically have spent decades spinning their wheels trying - and failing - to improve their situations. These are the countries most likely to try the 'hail mary', 'leap of faith' which is adopting Bitcoin. Not saying that adoption will work for them or not - but just that, OF COURSE, the first countries to try bitcoin are going to be these poor, unfortunate, desperate countries.
I get annoyed when people say things like "only poor countries have adopted bitcoin" as if that somehow proves that bitcoin has failed or is dying. Like I said above, of course these countries are the first to use it. In my opinion, poor countries adopting bitcoin is actually proof that it is becoming more widespread, rather than the other way around.
Totally agree. But it doesn't change the fact that more people are using bitcoin.
And before anyone says that these countries using bitcoin is proof bitcoin is evil - bitcoin itself is just a payment network, a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for both good and bad.
The first people to start using pagers were drug dealers, but we don't think of pagers as being inherently evil. They're just a tool too.
Yea because the war on drugs has worked so well over the last 50 years....and that involves manufacturing and moving tonnes of physical substances around the world, not to mention all the money that flows back.
Bitcoin is digital and there is no way to know if a person has some...
Yes they are all traceable on the blockchain (All Bitocin is at its core is an open ledger of every bitcoin transaciton ever to occur so no one can be cheated), but wallet addresses are psudo anonymous and they will have to either get hold of your private keys which control those addresses or prove that you still control those addresses.
One of the benefits of Bitcoin is that it makes defence cheap and offense expensive.
...just pointing out that govts have control. I understand China has done something like this already?
If the US decided to, most would follow. Not saying the will, should or whatever.
But seems to me the crypto crowd overlook such a simple way of killing it off. If anything you owned that was derived from cashed out crypto got seized under asset recovery, that's the end of for mainstream use. Surely?
You once again fail to distinguish between Bitcoin and Crypto, please, please try to learn the difference.
Hash rate also just hit a fresh all time high this week....very far from dead:
Bitcoin Obituaries - "Bitcoin is Dead" Declared 400+ Times (99bitcoins.com)
Asset recovery can't just be used to take anything from people, there has to be some basis for it being somehow tied to the proceeds of an actual criminal act? Until the actual act of owning a digital asset becomes a crime, there's no arguable link to any possible criminal activity. So no?
Unless you're suggesting the state take a massive totalitarian approach to the very existence of digital assets, in which case a) that would totally justify the inherent libertarian element and arguments behind decentralised currencies to the point where it would probably legitimise them, or b) cause wider social upheaval as a result. At that point, all bets are off.
Don't forget P2P and Torrenting copyrighted materials was illegal, but it didn't stop almost everyone under the age of 30 doing it for decades.
But the Q1 GDP number did not come in as expected, recording a surprising fall from the prior quarter when a rise was expected. But this was mostly due to a record trade deficit, softer inventory growth, and a drop in government spending.
Historic Inventory Continued In March, But Is It All Price Illusion, Too?
Oh my, was there ever more inventory. It was, apparently, widely expected that following an avalanche of goods building up over the previous five months the situation might calm down a touch. Analysts had figured wholesale inventories, to start with, might have gone up 0.9% from February to March after having surged 2.5% January to February.
No sir. On the contrary, wholesale inventories jumped again, another 2.3% month-over-month during March. And that was on top of a slightly higher revised estimate for February.
Retail inventories (excluding automobiles and parts) were thought to have maybe added 0.5% last month. Census today says it was another blockbuster, also up an enormous, historic 2.3% month-over-month.
German inflation for April was reported overnight and it came in higher than expected at 7.4%.
Interest rate repression remains entrenched in Europe.
Highest German CPI since 1981 & ECB rates still negative: This DB chart highlights the extent to which #ECB is behind curve by looking at real pol rate through history (using Buba before Euro): "Real pol rate extraordinary extreme rel to anything seen in modern history," DB says. Link
Meanwhile Stuff this morning is reporting that Wellington specifically has made no gains in the hosuing market in the last 12 months
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128481870/a-year-of-capital-gains-wipe…
Canary in the Coalmine perhaps.
Wonder how much the public service wage freeze has had in stopping capital gains- if your salary/wage is not increasing it does curb ones ability to borrow more compounded by a rising interest rate environment.
If the pay freeze ends up reducing the capitals wage growth overall then increasing interest rates could drive further house price falls in the capital
I must know more people - within my circle in the last 12 months
1. One Moved to Tauranga - from public to private
2. four Moved to Christchurch - three public to private, one private to private
3. Two migrants (UK and US) public- moved back to US and Spain
4. public- renting - moved to Aussie
5. public - renting - moved to UK
this on top of some of the anecdotes to recent posts- currently Wellington - using flexible working arrangements to move to Wairapa and kapiti coast- assume public.
It is still causing enormous problems in the Health service as groups keep getting insulting offers well below inflation, and generally don't want to take a pay cut after working in pandemic conditions (no working from home for most, still coming into work when a household contact but wearing N95 masks all day and eating in isolation etc).
PSA workers are walking out next month, and my own group are voting right now to resume strike action after pausing for the Omicron surge. Our last offer was ~2% pay rise later this year (our contract ran out in the middle of last year and our last pay rise was in 2020), and another ~2% pay rise in late 2023. Pathetic.
Like everything, the ‘pay freeze’, was not as it was promised. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/04/thousands-of-high-salar…
My favourite bit ‘The Government's housing developer Kāinga Ora gave pay rises to 1048 of its staff paid above $100,000 in 2021, which is about 45 percent of all the the staff at Kāinga Ora.’
What on earth has been achieved at Kainga Ora to justify that?
With an extra 14,000 civil servants on the books (up from 46,000 when she started in 2017) I think there's still plenty of govt money floating through Wellington's veins. A thought however: I wonder how many of them can see the temporary nature of their job when Luxon, Seymour & co start governing in December 2023. My pick: By December 2024 there'll be some real property bargains on the south coast of the north island. Such a wonderful place to live.
Oh dear:
Lowe and Co director Craig Lowe said he would advise friends and family to buy now rather than wait to see how far prices fell, because they could achieve prices below where they sat a year ago and with interest rates pegged to go up, they may be able to lock in lower rates than would be available in the future.
... heard on NewStalk ZB this morning that NZ retailers are expecting prices to rise 7 % over the next quarter ... Quarter ! ... 3 months ...
Issues cited included the hiking of the minimum wage & the introduction of 10 days sick leave ... plus , a few supply chain problems from offshore ...
... care to comment Robbo ? .... Grant ! .... .... hello ???
The price of oil is very high, causing consumer prices to rise and it is because of the Federal Reserve. BUT NOT WHY YOU THINK! The Fed does not create real-economy money and their inability to create it - or encourage private banks to - has resulted in NOT ENOUGH MONEY. Lack of money to invest in oil production. Link - read RBNZ for FED.
Banks prefer to buy sovereign debt and purchase collateralised residential property mortgage assets - Jamie Dimon (Still) Hates Bonds Because Inflation; Other Banks Apparently Love Bonds Because There’s No Credit To Inflation
https://twitter.com/Jkylebass/status/1519661067361787906?s=20&t=6b1bIdv…
The yen is the proverbial canary in the coal mine for Asian currencies. BOJ Governor Kuroda has engaged in several “unlimited” and very public bond buying operations
Yen getting absolutly destroyed.
https://twitter.com/biancoresearch/status/1519521915148382208?s=20&t=6b…
*BOJ TO PURCHASE NECESSARY AMOUNT OF JGBS WITH NO UPPER LIMIT
*BOJ TO PURCHASE 10-YEAR JGBS AT 0.25% EVERY BUSINESS DAY
*YEN EXTENDS DROP TO 1% ON BOJ'S UNLIMITED BOND BUY PLAN
https://twitter.com/Dennis_Porter_/status/1519714692893093893?s=20&t=6b…
Panama grants Bitcoin legal status ie no capital gains tax. One owuld argue this is actually better than legal tender as it doesnt force people to use it yet clears the way for it to be used as a means of exchange.
Thats 2 countries this week :)
That comes just as energy utility Uniper said it would start paying in rubles for the gas it buys for Germany.
I am surprised that the Ruble being the strongest currency in the world isn't getting a bit more attention. It is incredible how easily the Russians have been able to defend their currency. The case for energy security / self-sufficiency grows stronger by the day.
GBH - INCORRECT, 100%
No finite resource gives energy security - all it does is guarantee you build an unsustainable set of infrastructure, reliant on something that will come to an end.
The prior comment about the petro-ruble, is the killer. We are about to be divorced from the petro-dollar; maybe Putin knew what he was doing all along?
Prepare to become 3rd world....
US extending a well established arms finance mechanism ( UK WW11) - US House of Representatives backs lend-lease act to ship weapons to Ukraine
I thought that US Q1 GDP being negative, when expected to rise would be top news. So we live in a world where the biggest economy undershorts the best known measure of economic activity, and the outcome is that markets reverse their losses and post big gains.
Can someone please enlighten me?
Because the "markets" bet on this and won?
The nominal GDP was a big pretty number and everyone loves big pretty numbers (as long as there on an upward trajectory)?
Speculative financial markets are far removed from economic activity?
"Economic activity" is a meaningless description that can be measured, but, proves nothing and does not relate to any specific outcome or quantifiable result?
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