Eurozone Retail Sales Tumble 4%
Retail sales for the month of February in the Eurozone fell by an annualized rate of 4 percent. Rising unemployment now surpassing 8.5 percent has resulted in a dramatic reduction in spending as consumers continue to hold back on the purchase of non-necessities. More
US Retail Sales Fall 1.1%
Analysts were caught somewhat short today as the Commerce Department released retail sales figures for March indicating that sales fell by 1.1 percent. This represents the largest decline in the past three months and was considerably more than the 0.3 percent increase expected.
The Labor Department also released the Producer Price Index (PPI) for March – once again, predictions were off the mark as the index fell by 1.2 percent compared to predictions of no change for the month. More
LIBOR Rates Slowly Falling
The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) continued to fall today as many banks appear poised to report positive results for the first time in several quarters. The resulting reduction in counterparty risk is reflected in a lowering of the spread between the LIBOR rate and Overnight Indexed Swap rates. More
Singapore’s Economy in Free-Fall
Singapore’s economy has suffered a record quarterly contraction losing 19.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Government estimates suggest that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will shrink between 6 and 9 percent this year far surpassing earlier estimates of 2 to 5 percent. More
