Company News by ForexMart

Food Stamp Program in Peril from Trump’s Tax Cuts

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP is currently in peril as Trump’s budget plan could possibly slash over $190 billion from the said food stamp program. These cuts on SNAP will be representing a funding cut of over 29%, since the US government spent over $70 billion on the food stamp program last year. Prior to this particular cut, the Trump administration had recently proclaimed that it will be able to strike a budget balance within a decade without altering the US government’s biggest spending drivers, namely social security and medical assistance. Trump had previously stated that there will be no changes made to these factors during his campaign period.

Debt Relief for Greece Still in Progress, No Deal Yet

Intercontinental lenders in Greece has a comprehensive meeting discussing debt sustainability on Monday. The meeting ended failing to reach an agreement about additional debt relief for Greece. Ministers disagreed to grant new loans to Athens but the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem says otherwise. He said that they are deliberating and making progress on the next disbursement targeting before summer to be able to pay due debts in July.


In their next meeting, they are optimistic that they will settle a deal in doling out bailout funds to the country on June 15. They are aiming for a more sustainable agreement which the International Monetary Fund commended and hoping that E.U. governments will support this deal. Although, the deal is not yet ready and will most likely be implemented once the current bailout program has ended next year.

FOMC Minutes Signal Interest Rate Hike Next Month

Fed officials are now more than ready to raise its short-term interest rates after stating in their meeting last month that increasing its rates are now “more than appropriate”. The central bank also moved to begin cutting back on its Treasury and mortgage securities holdings, which is currently worth $4.5 trillion. The Fed also stated in its minutes that they will be allowing an accumulation of these said securities in the long run without having to reinvest its proceeds to other assets. The Fed’s next policy meeting is scheduled this coming June 13-14 and will be immediately followed by a press conference from Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

China’s Debt-rating Downgraded by Moody’s to A1 from Aa3

The credit rating of China was downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday, the previous Aa3 (Double A-3) were down to A1 which means that the Chinese economy is going to grind lower for the next years as the country showed slow growth and its debt continuously increase. The downgrade is done due to the financial pressure that the government faces after years of credit-driven stimulus.

Craig Erlam, a Senior Market Analyst of Oanda, said in an interview, “Because talk of Chinese debt and concerns about the size of Chinese debt has been going on for the last few years. They seem to be very reliant on these high levels of growth, which has been slowing.” He further added that the credit downgrade does not surprise him at all.

The second largest economy in the world gained 6.7 percent last year and 6.9 in 2015, this pace is the slowest based on the records since 1990 by which Erlam believes that the following years appears to be challenging.

The bond credit rating company has expectations that the direct debt burden of China’s government will climb higher reaching 40 percent of 2018’s Gross Domestic Product which is close to the 45 percent as the decade ends. However, it remains lower to the 60 percent for the European Union.

The Finance Ministry of the republic claims that the downgrade is based on an improper approach that overestimated the risks on the increasing debt.

Trump Proposed 45 Percent Cut in Mexico Aid from U.S. Spending

On Tuesday, the U.S. spending reserved for foreign aid for Mexico and Central America are to be reduced as proposed by the President Donald Trump. The budget was proposed to trim as much as $3.6 trillion government spending in the following ten years for 2018 budget proposal.Although, this may not get a legislative approval as to how it is currently with other departments cuts especially in the State department.

Mexican aid worth $87.66 million will be lessened over 45 percent from the 2016 expenditure when Trump's proposal is approved. The budget cut will be transferred to the Mexican military including counterterrorism funds and other government programs. One of the officials commented that these deals are focused on bolstering border security and fight against corruption that may have hindered transnational criminal organizations. There will be a meeting to discuss the employment and security concerns in Central America in June.

Trump Calls for Investigation Following Manchester Leaks

US President Donald Trump has already called for an investigation regarding the “Manchester leaks” in order for the US government to determine how top-secret information were able to make their way towards the headlines of news reports, when these sets of information were actually only divulged to the key allies of the British government. Several UK officials have already expressed their dismay and disappointment with regards to this particular matter, among them being UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The bombings in Manchester last Monday night had killed a total of 22 people and has left more than 100 people with injuries. The victims were attending a pop concert before the bombings occurred.

Drop in Oil Prices Discontented Investors in its Low Figure

Oil prices declined by 5 percent following the extension of production cuts by Opec causing other oil producing countries to be dismayed who are expecting a bigger reduction. Consequently, crude prices dropped to the highest percentage drop since early March.


During the last OPEC meeting, they reached an agreement to prolong supply cuts constitute of 1.8 million barrels per day until the first quarter ends next year and investors are anticipating around half a million extra barrels to be contracted. However, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Khalid Al-Falih said that other ministers find it unnecessary to lessen the output further and nine months is the “optimum” duration.

On the other hand, U.S. shale producers are motivated to provide more supplies because of the cheap cost of oil at $50 bpd. Although, they have to be careful since it could exceed the target increase and bring down further the price, stated by the Texas shale oil producer president David Arrington.

Fast Track Economic Recovery of India in the First Quarter

The economy of India is considered as the fastest developing major economy globally in the previous quarter, induced by positive performance in manufacturing and services. For short-term, the demonetization has affected the demand but was able to recover. The forecast for this year ranged between 6.5 and 7.8 while the actual data achieved a 7.1 percent growth from January to March this year. It has significantly risen from last year’s Q1 growth of 7.9 percent.

The upswing in the economic growth was mainly pushed by positive domestic factors taking into account a notable progress of the central bank easing of policy rate into lending rates of financial institutions that made investment appealing to investors. Moreover, the infrastructure spending has substantiated growth and probability for better agricultural output when the monsoon rains become beneficial.

On the other hand, the goods and sales tax (GST) is also anticipated to contribute to the economy as its removal will encourage more businesses in India. This will be implemented on July 1st.

The current Money Fall contest has already started on May 29, 2017 and will end on June 2, 2017.

You can register for the next competition which will take place from June 5, 2017 to June 9, 2017.

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

US Budget Concerns Casts Doubt on Fed Plans

The US Federal Reserve is more than ready to raise its interest rates this coming June, but the possibility of the Congress rattling up the markets by slowing down progress on increasing the debt ceiling of the US economy has cast a shadow of doubt on the Fed’s next scheduled rate hike on September. Prior to this development, the Fed has been saying that they are currently planning to implement two more rate hikes before the year ends, but has now reverted to saying that the third rate hike for year might be in for some delays if the market gets shaken by possible disagreements on fiscal policies.