Mnuchin said the government would begin sending out paper checks on Wednesday, which means people should begin receiving those within the next two weeks.

The post Here’s when your second stimulus check will arrive first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury labeled Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators on Wednesday and added three new names to a watch list of countries it suspects of taking measures to devalue their currencies against the dollar.

In what may be one of the final broadsides to international trading partners delivered by the departing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Treasury said that through June 2020 both Switzerland and Vietnam had intervened in currency markets to prevent effective balance of payments adjustments.

Furthermore, in its semi-annual currency manipulation report, the Treasury said Vietnam had acted to gain “unfair competitive advantage in international trade as well.”

Foreign exchange analysts had broadly anticipated the U.S. Treasury designation for the two countries.

The action comes as the global coronavirus pandemic skews trade flows and widens U.S. deficits with trading partners, an irritant to Trump, who won office four years ago partly on a promise to close the U.S. trade gap.

To be labeled a manipulator, countries must at least have a $20 billion-plus bilateral trade surplus with the United States, foreign currency intervention exceeding 2% of gross domestic product and a global current account surplus exceeding 2% of GDP.

The U.S. Treasury also said its “monitoring list” of countries that meet some of the criteria has grown to 10 with the additions of Taiwan, Thailand and India.

Others on the list include China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Malaysia.

The U.S. Treasury report also said that India and Singapore had intervened in the foreign exchange market in a “sustained, asymmetric manner” but did not meet other requirements to warrant designation as manipulators.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Writing by Daniel Burns; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: https://www.metro.us/u-s-treasury-labels-switzerland/

The post U.S. Treasury labels Switzerland, Vietnam as currency manipulators first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. equity markets soared Monday after drugmaker Moderna announced progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine and as lockdowns continued to ease nationwide.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained as many as 1,023 points before paring its advance in the final hour of trading.

The S&P 500 registered its best day since early April, rising 3.15 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.44 percent.

Investors also reacted favorably to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said the central bank will continue to support the U.S. economy for as long as necessary.

Powell also warned that while the U.S. economy will return to growth in 2020, it may not reach pre-crisis levels until late next year and that a full recovery may hinge on the discovery of a COVID-19 vaccine.

TEXAS FEARS LOSING OIL-RICH LANDS IN CHINESE TAKEOVER OF WEAKENED ENERGY COMPANIES

“For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident. And that may have to await the arrival of a vaccine,” Powell said on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

He added the central bank is “not out of ammunition by a long shot” and that “there’s a lot more” that can be done to support the economy.

At least 14 U.S. states eased lockdown restrictions on Monday, including Florida, which allowed gyms and fitness centers to reopen at 50 percent capacity and restaurants and retailers to increase their volume to 50 percent. Massachusetts will begin opening businesses with a phased plan on May 18.

Looking at stocks, drugmaker Moderna received positive results from a Phase 1 clinical trial for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

Automakers Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler reopened vehicle assembly plants on Monday at limited capacity. The industry employs about 1 million workers and makes up 6 percent of U.S. economic activity.

Apple will reopen 25 U.S. stores this week, 12 in Canada and 10 in Italy. Anyone entering the locations will be subject to temperature checks and be required to wear face coverings.

GrubHub has rejected Uber’s latest all-stock takeover offer of 1.9 Uber shares for each GrubHub share, saying the offer undervalued the company. Talks remain ongoing.

J.C. Penney filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following Friday’s closing bell. The retailer earlier on Friday announced it had made a $17 million interest payment as it weighed strategic alternatives.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil spiked 8.12 percent to $31.82 per barrel and gold slipped 1.23 percent to $1,732 an ounce.

U.S. Treasurys slipped, causing the yield on the 10-year note to climb to 0.741 percent.

European markets were higher across the board with Germany’s DAX up 5.67 percent, France’s CAC higher by 5.16 percent and Britain’s FTSE adding 4.29 percent.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.58 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.24 percent. Meanwhile, the Nikkei added 0.48 percent after government data showed the Japanese economy entered a recession in the first quarter.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/us-stocks-may-18-2020

The post Dow surges over 900 points amid coronavirus vaccine progress as lockdowns ease first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

As a reminder, the last time Japan held the position as America’s largest foreign creditor was May 2017.  Japan’s holdings of U.S. paper have been rising during the past year as the world’s pool of negative-yielding debt grows, with the total climbing to above $14 trillion at the end of July before hitting a record $17 trillion one month later. That’s made Treasuries more attractive to some overseas investors, given that U.S. debt offers some of the highest yields in developed markets.

China’s US treasury holdings have come under increased scrutiny in the trade war amid speculation that the Asian nation could sell Treasuries in response, especially after a former Chinese central banker recently suggested that a treasury dump is certainly possible: “The U.S. believes, in a geopolitical point of view, it’s being contained by China with China’s holding of its sovereign bonds,” said Chen Yuan, former deputy governor of the PBOC. “That means the U.S. is not completely without weakness.”

And while China has yet to activate the nuclear option, at least we now know which country’s retirees are the biggest US Treasury bagholders. Except for America[‘s own of course.

Overall foreign holdings of US Treasuries dropped to $6.63 trillion compared with $6.64 trillion in June. Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan boosted their holdings in July from a month earlier.

Finally, not everyone was busy adding to US Treasury holdings: in July, the biggest seller was the Cayman Islands (i.e. hedge funds), whose holdings declined by $82 billion, the most since January…

… even though one month later, in August, US Treasury yields would tumble to the lowest on record.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/japan-increases-lead-over-china-largest-foreign-holder-us-treasurys

The post Japan Increases Lead Over China As Largest Foreign Holder Of U.S. Treasurys first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.