By Glen Hallick
Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – The following is a glance at the news moving markets in Canada and globally.
- Inflation in China eased back to a 0.2 per cent increase in June from a 0.3 per cent gain in May, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. That came in below a Reuters poll that projected a rise of 0.4 per cent. While several Western countries continued to concentrate on lowering inflation, there are growing concerns in China about deflation due to sagging demand. Food prices alone dropped 2.1 per cent in June, compared to two per cent in May.
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Global Markets: Inflation nudges up in Canada, the U.S.
By Glen Hallick Glacier Farm Media | MarketsFarm – The following is a glance at the news moving markets…
- Ahead of Thursday’s inflation report from the United States Department of Labor, analysts pegged the June consumer price index to slip to 3.1 per cent from 3.3 in May. Lower inflation along with a weaker labour market could spur the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rates by September. Fed chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that “inflation has eased considerably” and that “cutting interest rates too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.” Powell is set to speak with the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
- The Canadian Pension Plan announced on Wednesday that it will buy a 20 per cent stake in Team.blue, from investment firm Hg. Team.blue is a website tool and software services technology group with 2,500 employees and three million customers in 22 European countries. The CPP Investment Board said the deal is worth US$5.2 billion. Despite the sale, Hg will remain Team.blue’s largest shareholder.
- A strike by Samsung Electronics employees in South Korea could last more than its planned three days, according to reports on Wednesday. The National Samsung Electronics Union, representing about a quarter of the company’s workforce of 30,000 have been off the job since Monday. In an effort to gain better pay and benefits, the NSEU called on all of its members to take to the picket lines indefinitely. Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips, smartphones and televisions, with second quarter profits to reach US$7.54 billion.
