The deadly coronavirus outbreak may have cost China more than 1.3 trillion yuan (US$185 billion) in the first two months of the year because of huge dips in consumer spending and tourism, according to a former senior executive with the International Monetary Fund. Zhu Min, who was deputy managing director of the IMF from 2011 to 2016, said during an online presentation on ...

The “booming” US economy often touted by certain politicians, and in some corners of the media, is clearly not-so great relative to history. Economists are well aware that average year-over-year US real GDP growth in this century was a paltry 2.10% from 2000-2019, compared to an average of 3.67% during the second half of the 20th Century and 3.22% on ...

Low unemployment rates, rising wage growth, a relentless bull market — by many measures, the good times are rolling. Just ask President Trump, who is glad to take credit for “the greatest economy in our nation’s history.” But there is an ugly side to this boom that you obviously won’t hear Trump talk about at one of his MAGA rallies, ...

Markets closed out last week on an anxious note. It’s not difficult to see why: the coronavirus continues to spread, and there are signs that some of the world’s top economies could slide into recession as the outbreak compounds pre-existing weaknesses. Take Japan: The world’s third-largest economy shrank 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 as the country absorbed the ...

New data to show steep fall in Chinese factory output as outbreak in Italy ramps up eurozone fears The rising cost of the coronavirus outbreak for business and the world economy is expected to become clearer this week as major firms issue trading updates and China reports the toll on its manufacturing sector. The latest snapshot of industrial activity in ...

The Conservatives’ large majority will give the economy some much-needed breathing space over the next six months. Business confidence should recover, now that a no-deal Brexit isn’t a risk in January 2020 and the outlook for domestic policy over the next five years is relatively clear. Many firms will be able to invest, knowing that corporation tax likely won’t rise, ...

economy is still taking hits from the US-China trade war. Overall sales increased 0.2% last month, according to the Commerce Department, falling under the 0.5% consensus estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The metric was dragged lower by declines in the apparel and restaurant industries, hinting at weakening consumer spending trends as the year comes to a close. October’s figure ...

Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Friday said the government is focusing on increasing consumption to boost economic growth. Presenting steps taken by the government in the past few months to pull the economy out from a six-year low growth, he said the measures include corporate tax cuts to improve risk-return of companies. Here’s a list of all measure announcements ...

Latitude Financial’s eagerly awaited debut on the ASX has been pulled for the second time in just over a year. It was meant to be the biggest Australian initial public offering (IPO) of the year, but those plans have been shelved by Latitude’s owners — US private equity firm KKR, Deutche Bank and Varde Partners. The KKR consortium decided to ...

One vital sign of the American economy is pointing toward growth turning negative by the end of the year. The Cass Freight Index, a monthly measure of rail, trucking and airfreight volume, dropped 3% in August from a year earlier, the ninth consecutive month of declines. The figures released Friday blamed tariffs for stalling trade. The numbers and the analysis ...