Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Economy update The US tax and spending bill cleared the House floor yesterday by the margin of one vote in a major victory for President Trump. A variety of taxes will be slashed, federal budget cut and military spending and border reinforcement boosted. Investors are demanding higher yields to finance the growing deficit. The German […]

Economy update Business activity in the euro zone took an unforeseen U-turn. Its index, compiled by S&P Global slipped to 49.5, down from 50.4 in April. On the brightish side, German business sentiment improved in May, the latest Ifo survey shows. US equity and bond investors are cautious ahead of the vote in the House […]

Economy update Consumer prices rose faster than expected in April in the UK. Inflation surged 3.5%, up from 2.6% in March. The main culprit is the jump in airfares over Easter. Japanese shipments to the US fell in April, a clear sign of the impact of US tariffs. Total Japanese exports increased by 2%, in […]

As we progress through another slow week of earnings reports, one noteworthy one comes from Target (TGT) Wednesday before the markets open. Target has struggled recently, as their foot traffic has been on a steady decline for the last 10 weeks, and they are being wrecked by their competitors, Walmart, Amazon and Costco. Additionally, their […]

Equities are in a holding pattern even with China cutting 1-year Loan Prime Rate by 10bps in a stimulus move and Australia’s RBA cutting rates by 25bps. It is not enough to counter the conservative chat from FED speakers yesterday with hawks suggesting only 1 cut this year and all point to erratic tariff policies. […]

Economy update A plethora of negative economic data over the weekend and this morning has led to the souring of investors’ sentiment and to an elevated level of anxiety about economic growth. Rising government debt and budget deficit precipitated US downgrade, something that the White House dismissed. Chinese retail sales came in under expectations. The […]

Fairly quiet Friday docket and little tariff talks sees bourses contained but with a positive bias. Slower US Retail Sales and PPI now sees 2 FED cuts being priced in for 2025 which skids the USD and favours bourses although tech has been bothered by META issues on AI. Tariff concerns blamed for Japan’s real […]

Industrial production in the common currency area expanded by 2.6% in March from the previous month, far more than the forecast of 1.8%. Neither Vladimir Putin, nor Donald Trump will attend the Ukrainian peace talks in Turkey making any breakthrough more than implausible. The US President claims that India offered a trade deal with zero […]

The US CPI turned out to be a dull affair but is spun bullish with speculation of FED cut. White House says more than 20-25 tariff agreements are imminent, and Trump talks the market higher again. Wholesale inflation in Japan raises expectation of a BoJ rate hike and enables a stronger JPY. Bourses were initially […]