Summary for the 27th of February 2019


The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, said at the British Parliament yesterday that she would put forward the Brexit agreement, including any changes she has agreed with the EU, to a vote by 12th of March. If the changes got voted down, she would then forward suggestion for a hard Brexit (no deal), if this also got voted down, she would forward a postpone of the deadline for the UK to leave the EU. To postpone the deadline of leaving the EU would need the approval of all the EU countries.

The FHFA released yesterday the statistics for the US house prices. House prices rose by 5.7% from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018, the rising price rate has thus slowed down through 2018. The growth rate peaked in February 2018, when the price rose by 7.7%.
The US S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows a slowed down in price growth for the major Metropolitan Area, the growth was positive from November to December 2018.

United States Housing Starts fell sharply in December, down by -11.2%, though, The Building Permit is still rising in November and December. The expected housing market conditions for the next six month has declined, according to the NAHB statistics.

The US consumer confidence has increased in February, after several month of decline. The index rose by 9.7% to 131.7, the market was expecting 124.9. Consumers' assessment of current economic conditions rose by 3.3%, while the assessment for the next 6 months rose by 14 points. The rise might be due to the positive movements in the stock markets and the development of the risk for the government shutdown in December and January. The Fed’s signals about less contractionary monetary policy also helped in boosting the confidence.

The Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, said at the Senate Banking Committee yesterday that the Fed would be patience about rate hike. He still sees a solid economic growth, but mentioned the rise in downside risks and weak economic indicators.

Indices on the 27th of February:
Dow: -0.1% (26th of February )
S&P 500: -0.1% (26th of February)
Nasdaq: -0.1% (26th of February)
Nikkei: +0.5%  (27th of February)
Chinese indices: +0.8% (27th of February)
STOXX Europe 600 Index: -0.28% (27th of February)
This post is sponsored by my video course in Portfolio Analysis, check it out if you are interested:
Quick and Easy Portfolio Analysis Video Course  (Skillshare)
Quick and Easy Portfolio AnalysisVideo Course  (Udemy)
and Facebook page for other information:
Quick&Easy Finance


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summary for the 2nd of October -Weaker manufacturing outlook

Last week’s flash PMI estimates for the EU area and yesterday’ final PMI numbers are indicating that the weakening in the manufacturing sector isn’t country specific, but rather the weakening is across countries. The decline in Germany’s manufacturing sector is less than expected by the financial markets, while the decline in France is higher than expected. The same goes for Spain and Italy. The UK’s PMI index has increased by 0.9 to 48.3 and is more than expected, though 48.3 still indicates a weaker outlook. The US Manufacturing PMI has increased to 51.1 while the ISM index declines by 1.3 percent to 47.8, the lowest value since 2009. Despite weakening activities in the manufacturing sector for the developed countries, for the developing countries the outlook is still positive. The global PMI value in the manufacturing sector has risen from August to September. Past months’ decline has been due to weaker growth in the global trade. The WTO has updated its global trade forecast ...
Read more

Summary for the 15th of October

China’s balance of trade shows a fall in exports by 3.2 percent, comparing to a year ago and the imports fall by 8.5 percent, the first fall since May this year. China is the largest contributor to world economic growth, through the weaker imports, China’s economic decline is affecting the rest of the world economy, such as the Euro area. The Euro area’s industrial production for  August has risen by a little more than the markets have expected. The industrial production in the Euro area has been weakening since the start of 2018. Finland is currently holding the council of the EU presidency. At a press conference with the European Council President elect, Charles Michel, the Finnish prime minister, Antti Rinne, says that The EU needs more time to reach a Brexit agreement. Boris Johnson is hoping to seal a Brexit deal before the EU summit on Thursday, so that he will be able to present it to the British Parliament on Saturday for approval, in doing so, he won’t need to postpo...
Read more

Summary for the 21st of October Brexit drama

On Saturday, the British parliament is withholding the final decision of the revised Brexit deal and forcing Boris Johnson to ask the European Council for an extension to the 31 st of January. Instead the parliament has greed on Oliver Letwin’ amendment, which states that there wont be a no deal Brexit until the parliament has agreed on the revised Brexit deal this week. And on Saturday night, Boris Johnson has sent an unsigned letter to the European Council asking for a Brexit delay as well as a personal letter to the Council asking the EU leaders not to delay Brexit. The US stock exchange has closed in negative on Friday after Johnson & Johnson has to recall 33 000 bottles of baby powder in the US after health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in a bottle purchased online. Boeing has admitted that two of its employers in 2016 misled the FAA about the 737 Max and its technical system. Weaker than expected Chinese economic indicators also contributes to the negative...
Read more