world economy

by hellenicshippingnews… on 30 June 2025 at 10:00 am

Trade tensions and fractious geopolitics risk exposing deep fault lines in the global financial system, central bank umbrella body the Bank for International Settlements, said in its latest assessment of the state of the world economy. Outgoing head of the BIS, often dubbed the central bankers’ central bank, Agustín Carstens, said the U.S.-driven trade war …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 30 June 2025 at 10:00 am

Anxious households become more reluctant to spend Real consumer spending fell 0.3% month-on-month in May versus expectations of a 0.1% gain. Following big downward revisions to first quarter consumer spending growth yesterday, this is concerning. The MoM changes so far this year have been: January -0.6%, February -0.1%, March +0.7%, April +0.1% and May -0.3%, …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 30 June 2025 at 10:00 am

Pet owners are splurging on smart litter boxes, blind boxes are flying off shelves overseas after going viral in China, and new tea drinks are becoming the go-to choice for young people. With continuously optimized retail efficiency and the rising spending power of young consumers, China’s consumption sector has witnessed a notable shift toward new …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Chinese companies are so intent on global expansion that even the biggest stock offering to date on Shanghai’s tech-heavy STAR board counts the U.S. as one of its biggest markets, on par with China. Shenzhen-based camera company Insta360, a rival to GoPro, raised 1.938 billion yuan ($270 million) in a Shanghai listing Wednesday under the …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

The recent de-escalation in US-China trade tensions has led Fitch Ratings to make broad-based upward revisions to its global growth forecasts compared to the previous Global Economic Outlook (GEO) published in mid-April. But the world economy still faces a sharp slowdown induced by the most severe trade war since the 1930s, says Fitch in its …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not appoint anyone to head the Federal Reserve who would not lower interest rates from where they are, setting perhaps the most explicit litmus test yet for candidates to be the next central bank chief to align with his demands for steep rate cuts in order …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Louis Vuitton’s latest Shanghai store is not your average luxury flagship. The 30-meter-high, ship-shaped store, “The Louis”, is billed as an experience, and houses an exhibition space and cafe in Shanghai’s downtown Nanjing Road shopping strip. “The Louis”, which had a grand opening on Thursday, will undoubtedly draw crowds eager to post pictures to social …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

The ECB should abandon targeting headline inflation and focus instead on price growth in discretionary spending to protect the bloc’s poorest, a paper to be presented to policymakers at the bank’s preeminent research conference argued on Friday. The ECB targets inflation at 2% and a soon-to-be-concluded review will not even discuss the definition of the …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday criticized the latest version of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill released by the U.S. Senate, calling it “utterly insane and destructive,” weeks after the world’s richest person and its most powerful ended a feud sparked by Musk’s opposition to the bill. “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Germany announced a sweeping budget plan on Tuesday that aims to nearly double military spending and launch a 500 billion euro infrastructure drive, in what Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called a “paradigm shift” in the country’s investment policy. The draft budget seeks to raise defence outlays to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2026, …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Twenty-two of the largest banks in the U.S. are well-positioned to weather a hypothetical severe economic downturn and continue lending, with firms maintaining robust capital levels even after suffering hundreds of billions of dollars in losses, the Federal Reserve reported on Friday. The results of the U.S. central bank’s annual “stress test” of large banks’ …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Short of commanders, deprived of much of its tunnel network and unsure of support from its ally Iran, Hamas is battling to survive in Gaza in the face of rebellious local clans and relentless Israeli military pressure. Hamas fighters are operating autonomously under orders to hold out as long as possible but the Islamist group …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell once tolerated what he deemed “transitory” inflation, only to see price rises spiral in the wake of the pandemic. He isn’t willing to make the same gamble again, despite political pressure to cut interest rates. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump resumed his attacks, saying that he’s weighing “three or …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 5:00 pm

U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly cut off trade talks with Canada on Friday over its tax targeting U.S. technology firms, saying that it was a “blatant attack” and that he would set a new tariff rate on Canadian goods within the next week. The move plunges U.S.-Canada relations back into chaos after a period of …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 29 June 2025 at 5:00 pm

The United States and the Group of Seven nations have agreed to support a proposal that would exempt U.S. companies from some components of an existing global agreement, the G7 said in a statement on Saturday. The group has created a ‘side-by-side’ system in response to the U.S. administration agreeing to scrap the Section 899 …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 27 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

President Donald Trump’s tariffs will likely increase inflation and could also drive up unemployment, Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said on Thursday in remarks that signaled that he – like most of his Fed colleagues – wants to wait for more clarity before making any interest-rate cuts. “Low-income households can ill afford increases in prices, …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 27 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

The European Central Bank is on track to meet is 2% inflation target, the institution’s Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Friday. “We are confident we will meet the inflation target, which is why we lowered interest rates”, he told Spanish TV broadcasther Antena 3. The ECB cut interest rates this month for the …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 27 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

The Bank of Japan’s increasing caution around raising interest rates further relies heavily on a relatively obscure inflation reading, which policy doves argue suggests weak consumer demand but critics say messes with the bank’s messaging. Underlying inflation in Japan, which focuses on the strength of domestic demand and wages rather than volatile food and fuel, …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 27 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

Fiscal policy is under scrutiny as Germany loosens its fiscal rules, the U.S. tax and spending bill advances through Congress, and several European countries announce plans to boost military spending. “These issues seem chronic, not acute – unlikely to trigger a sudden fiscal crisis. Instead, we expect episodic market volatility, possible further steepening of the …

by hellenicshippingnews… on 27 June 2025 at 9:00 pm

A Federal Reserve plan to relax leverage rules could free up $185 billion in capital and unlock nearly $6 trillion in balance sheet capacity for large U.S. global banks covered by Morgan Stanley, the brokerage estimated. The U.S. Fed unveiled a proposal on Wednesday that would overhaul how much capital large global banks must hold …