Economic Highlights
Date: November 14, 2018 Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the six months ended September 30, 2018 reported $787.27 million in total interest income, a 20% increase relative to the $658.40 million recorded in 2017. Of this, interest income from loans amounted to $784.71 million (2017: $651.88 million), while interest income from securities totalled $2.56
Date: November 14, 2018 United States: Greenspan Says U.S. May Be Seeing the First Signs of Inflation Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said a rising U.S. debt burden could derail the current expansion and warned the tight labor market could lift inflation. “I’m beginning to see the first signs of it,” Greenspan said about
Date: November 12, 2018 United States: Fed Risks Backlash Reining in Economy Congress Wants to Rev Up The guardian of the punch bowl is at risk of becoming the punching bag. The Federal Reserve continued to signal at its meeting Thursday that “further gradual increases” in interest rates are coming for the “strong” U.S. economy.
November 08, 2018 Based on the latest information received by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) since September, the FOMC has noticed strengthening in the labour market coinciding with rising economic activity. Based on the FOMC, Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate have declined. Household spending
Brent Oil Brent oil prices decreased by 1.92% or US$1.40, as prices declined this week. Oil traded on November 08, 2018 at a price of US$71.49 per barrel relative to US$72.89 last week. Brent oil began the year at US$66.57 per barrel. Petrojam prices 87 Octane prices decreased week over week, by 1.82% (JMD$2.47). Additionally,
November 08, 2018 Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$2,925.33 million as at October 2018, reflecting a decrease of US$101.39 million relative to the US$3,026.72 million reported as at the end of September 2018 (see figure 1). Changes in the NIR resulted from an increase in Foreign Assets of US$108.79 million to total US$3,460.06 million
Date: November 06, 2018 United States: U.S. Futures Slip With European Stocks; Oil Drops: Markets Wrap It was a mixed picture across global stock markets on Tuesday, with investors showing some caution as they await the U.S. midterm elections. European equities turned lower alongside American futures while Asian shares advanced. Treasury yields edged up and
Date: November 02, 2018 Government Operations Results for September 2018 For the period of April 2018 to September 2018, the GOJ reported Total Revenues & Grants of $294.17 billion, $7.70 billion more than the Government’s projection. Year over year, this represents an increase of approximately 12.2% relative to the $262.11 billion recorded for the corresponding
Brent Oil Brent oil prices decreased by 2.66% or US$2.04, as prices declined this week. Oil traded on November 01, 2018 at a price of US$74.66 per barrel relative to US$76.70 last week. Brent oil began the year at US$68.07 per barrel. Petrojam prices 87 Octane prices decreased week over week, by 0.94% (JMD$1.29). Additionally,
Date: November 1, 2018 United States: U.S. Productivity Posts Best Back-to-Back Quarters Since 2015 Productivity gains in the U.S. posted the best back-to-back quarters since 2015, echoing a pickup in economic growth and offering some hope that faster expansion without stoking inflation is possible. The main measure of nonfarm business employee output per hour increased
