Daily Company News by ForexMart

[Luis ForexMart]

Asian Stocks Decline After US-led Airstrike on Syria
Asian stocks dropped after the US government led an airstrike against Syria as an apparent retaliation to the recent chemical attack on the same country which is allegedly spearheaded by members of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The said gas attack killed several civilians as well as several children while more people sustained serious injuries. Meanwhile, gold and oil prices shot through the roof as a result of the said occurrence. The market is now in a risk-off mode since the entirety of the market was surprised by this blitzkrieg coming from the US. However, this is not expected to have a long-term effect on the market unless this means more US involvement in the Syrian war.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

U.S. Unemployment Claims Fell to a Record Low in Almost Two Years
The number of applicants for U.S. unemployment benefits has declined to a record low in almost two years last week, implying tightening in the labor market. Claims have reached less than 300,000 for 109 consecutive weeks which indicates a good condition of the labor market and it is close to full employment.
Another survey by Reuters the nonfarm payrolls exhibited a rise in jobs as high as 180,000 in March following an increment of 235,000 in February while U.S. private payrolls surged by 263,000 jobs in March. This supported the reports of claim as it demonstrated that aid received by people decreased as much as 24,000 to 2.03 million until March 25 as reported in claims data on Thursday. The 4-week MA showed a drop in by 7,750 to 2.02 million average reaching the lowest level over the past 16 years.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Indian Economy to Accelerate by 7.4%, says ADB
The Indian economy is projected to increase by 7.4% amid the fiscal year 2017-2018 versus its previous growth of 7.1%. The boost occurred due to lift in public investment and demand in consumption goods based on the statement of Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday.
According to the latest 2017 report of Asian Development Outlook (ADO), 2016-17 GDP data failed to obtain the demonetization effects and the decline influenced the continuous slide of investments.
Moreover, ADO anticipates for the consumption to climb higher since there are additional bank notes set in the circulation following the shock withdrawal on highest-valued currencies happened on the 8th of November. The plan for an increase in salary and state employees pension were already implemented.
The ADB further expected the acceleration to 5.2% in the current year till 2018 while 5.4% in the coming 2018-19 considering the economic recovery along with the rebound of commodity prices.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Barclays Plc CEO Under Investigation in Whistleblower Probe
Barclays CEO James Staley is now under investigation by US and London-based regulators following claims that Staley apparently responded to a complaint regarding attempts to identify a whistleblower. Staley had apparently tried uncovering the identity of an anonymous tipper after the said tipster alerted authorities regarding personal matters. The FCA is now investigating the issue, which is also supervised by New York’s Financial Services Department.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

ECB Reassures EU Citizens amid French Election Concerns
An official from the European Central Bank has offered his reassurances to a very worried EU audience amid pre-election anxieties stemming from the French national elections by saying that the ECB has enough reinforcements should the said elections result to an eventual fallout. Austrian central bank governor Ewald Nowotny has stated that the ECB has several instruments on hand if ever liquidity becomes a problem for French banks after the conclusion of the said elections. Nowotny is currently part of the ECB’s rate-setting governing council.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

China’s Bullish GDP Growth Stabilizes Yuan
The first quarter data of China has come out after a solid positive gain causing a slowdown in capital outflows to stabilize the currency following a selloff last year. They are optimistic to attain the 6.5 percent GDP growth for this year as mentioned by the Finance minister Xiao Jie. This is a good signal indicating the strengthening of yuan and capital flows are gaining back by the country.
The interest rates are moving in an upward direction despite tighter policies to curb the fast growth of credit hampering the economic progress. Yet, economic growth advanced faster-than-expected 6.9 percent in the first quarter, weakening capital outflows and more stable cross-border flows have strengthened yuan substantially. This has then eased the pressure regards to Foreign exchange reserves as it retreated with the surge of the greenback.
However, further tightening cannot be ruled out as it may change again abruptly especially when the currency come again under pressure with the global appreciation of the U.S. dollar.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Inflation Weighed on the Economy of Britain
The British economy has cooled significantly in the months of January to March this year because higher inflation put pressure on disposable incomes. The Office for National Statistics is scheduled to publish the estimated GDP data for the first quarter this Friday.
Great Britain almost forgot the impact of the Brexit referendum on June and had an unexpectedly quick recovery. The growth rates in the third quarter of 2016 reached 0.5% while 0.7 for the last quarter.
Based on the forecast of city economists, the country will experience an arduous year ahead linked with a 0.4$ steep decline on growth during the first three months of 2017.
The country previously earned 0.2% which is considered as the weakest performance in the Q1 of 2016.
Moreover, the sterling became weaker which increased the price for imports and drove the inflation towards its three-year high obtaining 2.3%.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Trump Proposes Corporate Tax Cuts by Up to 15%
White House aides have been ordered by President Donald Trump to draft a corporate tax plan which will cut down the corporate tax rate by up to 15% in spite of the fact that this will be translating to significant profit losses. Trump has told his staff at an Oval Office meeting last week that he is looking for a large-scale tax cut which could be sold to American citizens, with the possibility of a federal budget deficit notwithstanding. Trump had also reportedly told his officials to finish it in time in order to release a comprehensive tax plan this coming Wednesday.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Russia Ranked Third Among Military Spenders
Based on a study issued on Monday, the Russian Federation ranked third with high expenditures on the military during 2016. Even though the country experience low-cost in oil and economic penalties due to increase in global expenditure after two successive years
The country’s spending reached $69.2 billion last year which is 5.9% higher in 2015 as shown in the report of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
During the year 2015, Saudi Arabia ranked third, however, settled in the fourth place in 2016 after its outlay declined by 30 percent or equal to $63.7 billion. Even if the desert country had a continuous engagement in regional wars.
Moreover, the United States preserved its position as the top spender with 1.7% raise amid 2015-16 to $611 billion. China, on the other hand, had lifted its spending funds by 5.4 percent to $215 billion which is relatively lower.
The total military spending of the Central Europe boosted by 2.4% last year.

 

[Luis ForexMart]

Trade Disparity Between US and Mexico Expands
The MXN experienced downward pressure after trade war anxieties stemming from Trump’s tough take on trade negotiations with Mexico caused a surge in the US demand for cheaper and more affordable Mexico-sourced goods, thereby increasing the trade disparity between the two countries. Mexican trade deficits jumped by up to 14% just in the first quarter of 2017, a stark contrast to the trade deficit recorded last 2016 in the same period. In addition, the Mexican Peso is also down by 8% against the USD as far as 2017 is concerned. Prior to this development, Trump has repeatedly threatened to build a border wall between the two countries and is now even considering a cancellation of the NAFTA agreement as part of the president’s plan to give new life to US-based factories. The NAFTA trade agreement involves Mexico, Canada, and the US and has enabled lower tariff levels, among others.