The unemployment rate in the United States climbed to 4.0 percent in January, the highest since June 2018 and marginally higher than the 3.9 percent recorded in December of last year.
There have been 22 federal government shutdowns in the United States since 1979, with three last year alone, including the most recent 35-day partial shutdown, which came into effect on December 22, 2018. Considered the longest in US history
China’s factory orders fell for the second month in a row, with the Caixin/Markit Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) indicating further contraction in the country’s manufacturing activity in January.
Brazil’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to $0.82 billion in December 2018 from $2.07 billion a year earlier on the back of a widening trade surplus in goods, even as the country’s services industry recorded an annual deficit.
The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) voted unanimously to raise benchmark interest rates by 25 points at its concluding monetary-policy meeting in 2018 on December 18-19.
The manufacturing sector in the United States slowed for the second straight month, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) survey in October.
Over the last few months, market experts have been sounding the death knell for the United States’ dominance in world trade and the effectiveness of the dollar as the reserve currency, which has historically enjoyed strong investor confidence.
When Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi failed to exit from his country’s embassy in Istanbul on October 2, 2018—after he entered it to complete required paperwork—the most powerful country in the Middle East was poorly prepared for the global repercussions that would eventually follow.
US factory orders surged by $11.5 billion, or 2.3 percent, in August to $510.5 billion, the largest month-on-month increase since September 2017, beating analysts’ expectations of a 2.1-percent growth. On a year-on-year basis, orders increased 8.6 percent.
The mid-term polls in the United States are expected to be held on November 6 of this year, with the Republicans currently controlling both chambers of the Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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