The International group of governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies agreed Saturday to hasten slow growth, saying the low interest rates will not be enough to accelerate economic improvement, but they are optimistic that growth will happen.
Government
Offshore Yuan drops as China steps back from market intervention
After gaining for a while on government's intervention, offshore Yuan fell for three sessions in a row. The Chinese government seems to be moving back from supporting the weakening currency Yuan and restricting capital outflow.
Corruption scandal rocks crisis-hit Brazil while government gears up for tax hike
The widening budget deficit has become a cause of concern for the Brazil. To speed up the economic recovery, the country needs a tax hike to ease the burden, the country's Chief of Staff Aloizio Mercadante said.
IRS Rejects Yahoo's Tax-Free Alibaba Spin-off Request, Sending Stocks Down 4%
IRS declined to bless Yahoo's planned tax-free Alibaba spin-off, sending its shares down about 4%. According to Business Insider, Yahoo owns 384 million shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, which is worth $23 billion. Yahoo plans to turn that into a separate company with its small-business unit in a tax-free transaction that allows it to give much of the value back to Yahoo shareholders. However, IRS declined to grant Yahoo's request. It doesn't mean the IRS rejected Yahoo's plan directly. IRS is simply telling Yahoo it can't be too confident about the approval of the deal.
Japan's Economy Reduces at a Minus 1.2 Percent Annual Rate in Q2
Revised data released Tuesday shows that Japan's economy contracted at a minus 1.2 percent annual rate during the second quarter. In a report from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, economists are rather impressed with the figure reported since it is better than what was expected. A preliminary report last month showed that Japan's economy contracted at a minus 1.6 percent annual rate.
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There may be a big drop in unemployment rate, but U.S. still fails to calm markets with the big possibility that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates. According to Telegraph UK, U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a seven-year-low last month. According to data from the US Labor Department, unemployment rate went down 5.1pc in August, the lowest it has been since April 2008. This is also a level that the Fed considers to indicate "full employment."
The International Monetary Fund raises concern about the potential fallout of a US rate hike this year. The fund says raising interest rates at this time puts the already fragile global economy at risk. "Monetary policy must stay accommodative to prevent real interest rates from rising prematurely," the IMF said Wednesday in a letter to top central bankers and finance ministers meeting in Turkey this week.
With current economic uncertainty, investors and citizens are asking whether the country will get affected by the looming global financial distress. Latest report by Business Insider shows that despites the turbulence, US economy has grown by 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent this year compared to 6.2 percent last year.
The latest projects indicating job gains in August are giving a much wider scope for US Fed rate hike speculation. According to research firms, non-farm payrolls were up 220,000 in August from 215,000 in July. Unemployment rate is also at 5.2 percent indicating near seven-and-a-half-year low.
Congressman Alan Grayson requested a memo that would lead to higher Social Security benefit increases and improve the retirement security of the elderly. The Congressman came up with a proposed legislation called "Seniors Deserve a Raise Act." It would give recipients of Social Security an increase that offsets the 40-year shortfall and make the CPI-E permanent. It will be filed when the Congress reconvenes.
The economic development of Spain is proving that the euro zone was tackling its crisis well, according to the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday. "Spain is the best example that we've done a lot of things quite right in Europe," Schaeuble said at a business conference in Berlin, adding that he was optimistic about Spain's future development as long as Madrid stuck to its reform policies.
The US construction sector recorded an encouraging spending of $1.08 trillion, a 0.7 percent monthly growth, indicating a seven-year high. The July data from the US Commerce Department has not only boosted the market sentiment but also gave an indication of robust economic activity in the third quarter.
Russia has come up with a new law that empowers the government to not only block websites but also orders them to share data of Russian citizens.
Greece is set for elections on 20 September this year. Judge Vassiliki Thanou is the care taker Prime Minister till the new government is formed. Thanou was sworn in on last Friday and became the first female Prime Minister for Greece.
