Data & financial journalist covering global economics and policy
The U.S. and Japan have taken the rare step of intervening together in the currency market, buying yen after the battered currency’s prolonged decline against the U.S. dollar. Sharp movements in the yen can affect Japanese demand for American assets, the cost of hedging dollar investments and conditions in the Treasury market. The move followed…
As the U.S. national debt approaches $39 trillion, foreign investors play a key role…. though ownership is concentrated among a few countries.
Interest rate cuts are no longer easy for the Fed. With ongoing Iran conflict and volatile oil markets, it may even consider rate hikes to ensure inflation remains stable.
Oil and gas might not be the only commodities vulnerable to the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Fertilizers are at particular risk, as their supplies get choked at the strait, a critical shipping corridor for a third of the world’s fertilizer shipments.