Data from the world’s major economies, released over the past few days, show that the “synchronised” global slowdown pointed to by the International Monetary Fund is worsening. In its report on the latest figures from China, the world’s second largest economy, Bloomberg said the “engines of China’s economy are spluttering with exports falling, factory output slowing, investment at a record[Read More…]

Markets around the world fell yesterday in response to the biggest fall on Wall Street for the year on Wednesday, amid further indications from bond markets and production data that the global economy is moving into recession. In response to the Wall Street decline, markets in Asia fell with Japan’s Topix index down 1 percent while the Australian market dropped[Read More…]

The current turmoil in financial markets was set off by the Trump administration’s threat to impose tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese goods and its decision to label China a “currency manipulator,” following Beijing’s move to allow the renminbi to fall. The extreme volatility has prompted questions about the stability of the global financial system. But the[Read More…]

The head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde has repeated earlier warnings that the trade war between US and China threatens to result in a cut to global growth and has called on Washington and Beijing to pull back. In a report published earlier this week, the IMF estimated that the latest round of tariffs could see a reduction[Read More…]

The growth rate of the Chinese economy has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of 2009 in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis. Official figures released at the end of last week put the annual growth rate for the third quarter at 6.5 per cent. This was below market expectations of 6.6 percent and down from[Read More…]