Key Points:
Reserve Bank of Australia raises interest rate to 0.85%
World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report raises chances of stagflation and global growth forecasts slumping from 5.7% in 2021 to 2.9% in 2022- much lower than Jan 2022 forecast of 4.1%
US Natural gas prices dive after reports of an explosion at the Freeport LNG facility near Texas
Yellen on the wires saying there is no way Inflation is a decade long problem
Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods which are still in place are being reviewed by the Biden administration as a potential method of bringing down rising inflation
ECB keeps benchmark interest rate unchanged and stuck to its plan of ending the stimulus program in the third quarter -a less than hawkish response which dampened the Euro
UK May construction PMI 56.4 vs 56.6 expected
Bank of Japan’s Kuroda- we need to continue to support monetary easing to support any economic recovery
US mortgage applications slumped 6.5% week on week, applications are now at a 22 year low raising questions of a possible US economic recession
The British Pound (GBP) is the strongest currency this week with the Japanese Yen (JPY) the weakest