ECONOMICS

It's not like it ever gets quiet any more, but this week will be especially busy week for central bank watchers with decisions due from the Fed, the BoJ (both Wednesday) and the BoE (Thursday), amongst others. Economic data highlights include retail sales in the US (today, which came in mixed), various US housing data, labor market stats in the UK (tomorrow) and inflation in Japan (Friday) and Canada (tomorrow). 

After we had the white smoke of a deal on Friday, the (more…)

By Benjamin Picton, Senior strategist at Rabobank

Let Them Eat Flatscreens

Speaking to NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that US stocks experiencing a correction is “healthy”. Naturally, this statement caused some alarm for many Wall Street types who had been counting on Bessent to be the second Trump administration’s ‘voice of reason’ on economic policy, tempering some of the President’s more hawkish instincts on trade and (more…)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking a $3.4 billion loan from the general fund to help a shortfall in the state's Medi-Cal healthcare program.  The shortfall problem comes only a year after Newsom expanded Medi-Cal coverage to include millions of illegal immigrants.  California's continuing deficits and mounting debts have some officials concerned that the additional subsidies to illegals will cause a fiscal emergency in the near future. 

There are at least 2.6 million (more…)