analysis

Top Chinese banks warn of spillover risks from property crisis

For the last four years the eurozone has been stagnating. Real GDP is not growing amid inflation and problems with energy supplies**

The government's two main measures of US economic activity, along with GDP and domestic goods and services, posted strong gains at the end of last year, pointing to an economy that is still growing at a healthy rate. GDI is the largest measure of economic activity generated by production and costs incurred from such goods and services. GDP measures the spending on such goods and services on Thursday at an upwardly revised 3.4% annualized pace in the fourth quarter.

Sony opens $66m Thailand fab for driver-assist image sensors

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US eased by 2,000 to 210,000 over the week ending March 23rd, beating market expectations of 215,000 to extend the momentum of relatively low claim counts since the start of February. In the meantime, continuing claims rose by 24,000 to 1,819,000 in the earlier week, offsetting the downward revision from earlier in March to reach its highest since mid-January.

The US economy expanded annualized 3.4% in Q4 2023, slightly higher than 3.2% previously reported, according to the BEA's third estimate. Consumer spending was revised higher (3.3% vs 3.2%), excluding services (4.3% vs 3.3%, structures (10.9% vs 7.5%) and investment in equipment (-1.1% vs 2.9%).

The insurance payouts for Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could be among the largest marine losses in history, according to Lloyd’s of London Chief Executive Officer John Neal. https://tinyurl.com/29288tjt

The British economy contracted by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023, marking its first period of contraction since the 2020-21 recession primarily driven by high inflation, soaring borrowing costs and weak external demand. Domestic consumption grew by 0.3% (vs. 0.2% in Q3), bolstered by a notable 2.8% surge in business investment. The economy accelerated to 2.5% in 2022, the weakest annual growth since the 2009 financial crisis, excluding the pandemic year of 2020.

Retail sales in Germany decreased 2.70 percent in February of 2024 over the same month of the previous year. Retail sales YoY in Germany averaged 0.52 percent from 1995 to 2024, reaching an all time high of 14.20 percent in January 2022 and a record low of -7.80 percent in March 2023.

On Wednesday, America signed agreements to purchase 2.8 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve** at a price of more than $81 per barrel, $2 above the target price tag.