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The charts that matter: the Fed springs a surprise
As the US Federal Reserve turns hawkish on inflation, we look at how that’s affected the charts that matter most to the global economy.
In this week’s magazine, we examine the shaky foundations of the internet, starkly demonstrated the other week when huge chunks of it went offline after an obscure but vital company’s customer changed their preferences. We also look at how to invest in stem cell technology – the “building blocks of the body” that will revolutionise medicine – and pick the best bets in the sector.
No star guest for this week’s podcast, but Merryn is joined by John to talk about all things inflation. What’s causing it? Is it a temporary blip? What can you do to combat it? And there’s a very interesting story about how we came to decide that 2% was the target to aim for. It might surprise you – find out all about it here.
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Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
The US dollar index (DXY – a measure of the strength of the dollar against a basket of the currencies of its major trading partners) responded to the prospect of higher interest rates by climbing sharply.
(Image credit: US dollar currency chart)
(DXY: three months)
But it doesn’t seem to have affected the Chinese yuan (or renminbi) much (when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening).
(Image credit: USD/CNY currency chart)
(Chinese yuan to the US dollar: since 25 Jun 2019)
The yield on the ten-year US government bond recovered from last week’s big drop.
(Image credit: US Treasury bond yield chart)
(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)
The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond turned back up, too.
(Image credit: Japanese government bond yield chart)
(Ten-year Japanese government bond yield: three months)
And the yield on the ten-year German Bund headed back up toward positive territory, though remained negative.
(Image credit: German bond yield chart)
(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)
Copper fell sharply. Could this be the end of the commodities bull run already? Probably not, says Dominic – though metals certainly aren’t looking too hot.
(Image credit: Copper price chart)
(Copper: nine months)
The closely-related Aussie dollar followed the copper price down.
(Image credit: AUD/USD currency chart)
(Aussie dollar vs US dollar exchange rate: three months)
Bitcoin is trading in a range – waiting to do something spectacular, no doubt. Saloni had a look at an eventful week for the cryptocurrency in our new crypto-roundup. Read that here.
(Image credit: Bitcoin price chart)
(Bitcoin: three months)
US weekly initial jobless claims rose for the first time in a long while, climbing 37,000 to 412,000, compared to 375,000 last week. The four-week moving average fell by 8,000 to 395,000 from 403,000 the week before.
(Image credit: US initial jobless claims chart)
(US initial jobless claims, four-week moving average: since Jan 2020)
The oil price kept on climbing. One commodity that’s still definitely in a bull market.
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