Category: Economy

Pressure on Taiwan Ahead of Elections With Taiwan’s critical elections approaching, China’s latest move to end tariff cuts on specific chemical imports from the island signifies an escalation in its efforts to coerce Taipei’s compliance with its sovereignty claims. The upcoming Jan. 13th elections in Taiwan have raised concerns about China’s intentions to interfere and […]

Franchisee Concerns Many hotel owners, including Bharat Patel, the chairman of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, have voiced their opinion that the merger is unnecessary. Patel, who owns two Choice hotels, explained that he is not against either Choice or Wyndham but feels that the interests of franchisees should be taken into account. The […]

Market Monitoring and Performance Investors are paying close attention to various factors on Thursday. These include the latest policy decision from the Indonesian central bank, consumer price inflation, trade figures from Hong Kong, and producer price inflation data from South Korea. Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, […]

Contributions of External Demand to Growth External demand is expected to play a significant role in driving overall growth, contributing 1.4 percentage points to Japan’s economic expansion. The recovery in inbound tourism and automobile output has been instrumental in bolstering external demand, particularly after the auto manufacturing sector was adversely affected by the global chip […]

Sterling Plummets Following Unexpected Decline in British Inflation The dollar regained ground on Thursday after a strong rally in U.S. stocks came to an abrupt end, prompting investors to seek safety. Additionally, the pound took a hit as British inflation unexpectedly dropped. This decline in inflation sent sterling tumbling, recording its sharpest drop in two […]

A Political Show of Strength Analysts view Saab’s release as a signal to members of Maduro’s party that the president is committed to protecting his allies at any cost, even at the expense of his own resources. Luis Vicente Leon, director of Caracas consultancy Datanalisis, described it as “a demonstration of (Maduro’s) willingness not to […]

Similar Benefits to Other Major U.S. Airlines While the specifics of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, it is anticipated that the benefits secured for the Southwest Airlines pilots will be on par with the benefits obtained by pilots unions in separate negotiations at the three other major U.S. airlines earlier this year. Captain […]

Federal Reserve President Expresses Stance on Interest Rates Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker stated on Wednesday that he continues to oppose any additional interest rate hikes by the U.S. central bank. However, he also indicated a willingness to consider reducing short-term borrowing costs, though not immediately. Harker made these remarks during an interview on […]

First-Ever Predatory Lending Case Under Fair Housing Act Federal prosecutors and the top U.S. agency for consumer financial protection have filed a lawsuit against a Texas real estate developer, citing a fraudulent land sale scheme that targeted thousands of Hispanic borrowers. The U.S. Department of Justice is handling the case, which marks the first-ever predatory […]

Soaring Popularity of Pay-Later Loans Companies such as Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, and PayPal have experienced rapid growth in the provision of pay-later loans. While credit card borrowing is at a record high in dollar terms (although not as a share of income), delinquencies are also increasing. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that […]