Company News by ForexMart

Thailand’s Strong First Quarter GDP growth

The export data of Thailand for first quarter moved at its most rapid “quarterly pace” in the past four years and eases the monetary policy to support low key investment activities. Although it faces uncertainties with capital outflow and global trading protectionism, the U.S. Fed is taking signifying that it is gaining momentum to recovery.

The agency reduced its monetary projection from 3.0 - 4.0 percentage to 3.3 - 3.8 percentage economic advancement forecasts while its export progress has been elevated to 3.6 percent from 2.9 percent. The rise in exports is mainly due to steep costs of commodities more than the volume of trades.

The central bank retained its key percentage interest rate at 1.50 percent since April 2015 and the upcoming policy review is scheduled on May 24 and expected also kept unchanged. Yet, there is a possibility for the Thai central bank to increase its rates by 25 basis points later in the year because of both sturdy growth statistics and probable augmented U.S. rates.

April Retail Sales Data for US Increases by 0.4%

A highly positive retail sales data for the US economy has further reaffirmed speculations that the country’s economic status is regaining its momentum following a previously weak slew of data last winter. However, these positive economic reports were pockmarked by a drop in earnings reports. But economists are saying that the country’s economy could possibly be in for stronger consumer data in the second quarter of 2017, which is apparently not surprising since the US labor market is continuously showing signs of steady improvement.

Economic Data of China Indicates Slow Growth

The economy of China further provided below-expected results of its economic indicators as the fixed-asset investment (FAI), manufacturing output and retail sales in the month of April declined.

The output of the industrial sector gained 6.5% in the earlier year, compared with the 7% projection of polling analysts of Bloomberg while 7.1% predicted by Reuters.

While factor output rose by 7.6% during March which is the fastest in two years. Fixed investments expanded by 8.9% in the months of January to April 2017, figures are based on the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, as polls projected 9.1%

The sales of retail boosted by 10.7% in April from the first quarter of the year. According to forecasts of experts, the rise will reach 10.6% which is lower versus the past period of 10.9% development. Whereas, the growth in private investment that accounts for an approximately 60% of the national sum value, dropped to 6.9% and acquired 7.7% in Q1.This indicates that the small and medium-sized private companies will remain to experience difficulty in finances.

The target growth of China is close to 9% allocated for the FAI’s 2017 while there are expectations that the retail sales will surge to 10% generally.

The second largest economy in the world had obtained a 6.9% expansion in the first quarter which is the most powerful since 2015. China had lessened its economic objective to give way to the policymakers in boosting reforms and to control financial risks.

Australia’s Record Low Wage Growth at 1.5%

The household debt climbed to an all-time high that affects spending and inflation that moved Australian wages sluggishly. This raised concern to the Reserve Bank of Australia and lower than the target of 2 to 3 percent leading to two rate cuts last year to a record low of 1.5 percent.

The wage price index climbed to 0.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the quarter before while the annual wage growth maintained at 1.9 percent which is significantly half less a decade ago. Although the central bank is pointing out that the wage growth decreases indicating less pressure to labor costs.

It is anticipated that inflation will recover early next year while wages rises slowly with the progressing jobs market. Data shows that the public sector to be gaining more appeal to investors with 2.4 percent increase compared to the 1.8 percent in the private sector. recovery of mining investments following a stagnant growth.

New Fintech Rules will be Imposed by Brazilian Central Bank

Brazil’s central bank is interested in implementing regulations to the FinTech sector to provide support for the industry startups and other firms in engaging and improving the Brazilian nation that is currently suffering from a recession.

As published in the recent report of Reuters, the monetary authority of the country, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) is planning to put into effect such rules for this year to sustain growth to FinTech companies and further services available in the Federative Republic of Brazil

According to Otavio Damaso, the BCB’s Chief of Staff, the advancement of FinTechs and innovative products seems positive for improving the financial system of the country since the economy is experiencing a worst depression.

The economy of Brazil got an 8 percent rate in March 2017 which is lower during December 2014. In the past, the country is known to be one of the fastest growing economies around the globe, then political controversies and mismanagement of funds arise creating jobless 13 million individuals.

During the former years, the traditional financing options caused banks to charge borrowers higher interest rates, this open doors for many fintechs to influence the Latin America’s biggest economy to offer loans at a cheaper price.

Congress Rift Might Dampen Trump’s NAFTA Dream

The Trump administration has already started the first part of its renegotiations with regards to the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada. But this first step towards NAFTA adjustments has created a rift between some Republican and Democrat senators, with the backers of the said agreement clashing with dissenters. These negotiations are expected to corner Trump especially now that his political policies are being put at stake by a political crisis within the US economy.

U.S Labour Market Declined Despite Positive Economic Outlook

Applications for U.S unemployment benefits had fallen circumstantially during the previous week, while the total of jobless Americans declined to a 28-1/2-year low which could lead to a sudden failure on the labor market slack.

The economic development was supported by the data released on Thursday that showed an abrupt expansion towards the manufacturing activity within the Mid-Atlantic states this month. The report says that the shipments for goods accelerated and more working hours for laborers. Further measure for the economic activities increase again in the month of April.

The positive data favors the expected hike in interest rates for the following month, even if the decision of the Fed Reserve depends on the condition of the financial markets, which recently been shaken by the scandals of US President Donald Trump.

Jobless claims benefits were lessened by 4,000 with a seasonal adjustment of 232,000 within the week that finished on May 13 as it experienced a three-weeks consecutive decline, as mentioned by the Labor Department.

Economists penciled last week that claims will reach 240,000 but it currently obtained less than 300,000 by which the threshold is linked with a stabilized job market for 115 successive weeks. This is the longest period recorded since the year 1970 which historically appeared that the market was smaller.

The employment sector reached full employment with the jobless rate gained a 10-year low to 4.4 percent. The U.S economy was able to produced 211,000 number of jobs in April.

Extended OPEC Output Cuts Raise Oil Prices

The extension of production output cut from big oil producing countries caused the oil prices to rise. Oil future climbed to the highest in almost a month and key benchmarks reaching gains for two weeks. Brent crude LCOc1 increased by 0.5 percent adding 28 cents at $52.79 while the U.S. crude oil CLc1 rose by 0.6 percent equivalent to 29 cents at $49.64 a barrel which is the highest since 26th of April. Investors are optimistic that production will reach an estimated 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of March 2018.

OPEC leaders and other oil producing countries will have a policy meeting on May 25 in Vienna. Although, there are signals indicating sufficient supplies from the Saudi Arabia being the biggest oil producer. Investors have mixed sentiment with conflicting concern from the drop in U.S. oil stocks and OPEC oil cuts.

Japan Exports Rallied for 5 Months

Exports from Japan notably increased for five consecutive months indicating a strong offshore demand and increased shipments of semiconductors and steels that boost economic growth. In April, exports climbed up to 7.5 percent compared with the previous year and lower than the median estimate of 7.8 percent yearly growth.

On the other hand, its trade surplus with the U.S. also decreased by 4.2 percent from a year ago while the exports jumped by 2.6 percent and continuously grows in the past three months because of high volume of car and auto parts shipments. An economist predicts that this upsurge will continue including domestic imports but the protectionist trade policies of Donald Trump raises concerns with Japan being an export-reliant country.

The current Money Fall contest has already started on May 22, 2017 and will end on May 26, 2017.

You can register for the next competition which will take place from May 29, 2017 to June 2, 2017

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Registration for the next competition finishes 1 hour before the contest starts.