World Economy
Global economic stagnation fuels financial instability
By Nick Beams, 8 August 2016
The decision by the Bank of England to take “exceptional” financial measures reflects the worsening outlook for the global economy.
Bank of England announces record rate cut in windfall for financial markets
By Barry Grey, 5 August 2016
The rate cut, together with other measures announced by the bank, will pump 170 billion pounds ($223 billion) into the UK’s financial markets.
Manufacturing slows in Europe and Japan
By our reporter, 2 August 2016
The continued slump in the real economy is in marked contrast to the ongoing and ultimately unsustainable speculative frenzy on international share markets.
Slowdown in US, global economy
By Tom Eley, 1 August 2016
Second-quarter gross domestic product figures for the US and Europe show a further slowing in economic growth and business investment.
Jobs losses continue in Australia as slump deepens
By Terry Cook, 23 July 2016
The job cuts further highlight the impact of falling commodity prices and declining demand in China and throughout Asia.
IMF cuts growth forecast in the wake of Brexit
By Nick Beams, 21 July 2016
The IMF has warned of the possibility of a “severe scenario” for Europe if financial conditions tighten and consumer confidence falls.
Global trade stagnates amid wave of protectionism
By Nick Beams, 15 July 2016
Members of the G20 were responsible for more than 80 percent of protectionist measures in 2015.
US Justice Department blocked prosecution of HSBC bank for drug cartel money laundering
By Gabriel Black, 15 July 2016
The House Financial Services Committee report makes clear that the Obama administration’s failure to hold criminally liable a single leading Wall Street figure is the result of a highly conscious and systematic policy.
A dangerous turn to economic nationalism
By Nick Beams, 12 July 2016
With all efforts to return global economic growth to pre-2008 levels having failed, the ruling class’s economic theorists have turned to the promotion of protectionism and nationalism.
IMF chief points to war danger
By Nick Beams, 8 July 2016
International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde warned against the dangers posed by the prospect of a “wave of protectionism.”
Signs of post-Brexit financial crisis mount
By Nick Beams, 7 July 2016
The suspension of cash redemptions by six property investment firms in Britain could set off a crisis extending to the banking system.
Brexit to intensify Sri Lankan economic crisis
By Saman Gunadasa, 6 July 2016
The British vote threatens to exacerbate Sri Lanka’s balance of payments crisis and deepen the widespread discontent over the government’s austerity measures.
Brexit financial fallout widens
By Nick Beams, 4 July 2016
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned of “economic post-traumatic stress” hitting financial markets, businesses and households.
Brexit vote highlights deepening crisis in global economy
By Nick Beams, 30 June 2016
The Brexit outcome has revealed acute problems in the “quantitative easing” program that the world’s major central banks have used to sustain the global financial system over the past eight years.
Financial market turmoil continues in wake of Brexit vote
By Nick Beams, 28 June 2016
British government leaders have issued statements claiming they have the situation under control, but to no avail as financial markets continue to plummet.
After Brexit, mounting warnings of global slump and financial panic
By Andre Damon, 27 June 2016
The ongoing sell-off in global financial markets comes amid a chorus of warnings by international institutions that the world economy faces a deepening crisis.
UK “leave” vote batters financial markets
By Andre Damon, 25 June 2016
The British pound plunged to a 31-year low, European stock markets crashed and US markets erased their gains for the year following the Brexit vote.
On eve of Brexit referendum, mounting warnings of global trade war
By Andre Damon, 22 June 2016
The World Trade Organization warned that protectionist measures by leading economies has hit the highest level on records dating back to 2009.
The return of “secular stagnation”
By Nick Beams, 17 June 2016
Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen’s comments on Wednesday pointed to the emergence of “secular stagnation” in the global economy, a term first developed in the 1930s.
Fed holds interest rates amid mounting global turmoil
By Nick Beams, 16 June 2016
The Fed decision to keep interest rates on hold is an expression of the fact that what were once considered “normal” operations of the capitalist economy are breaking down.
IMF issues warning over growing Chinese debt problems
By Nick Beams, 14 June 2016
The IMF has described rising corporate debt in China as the key “faultline” in its economy, amid concerns it could have major “spillover” effects internationally.
Economic nationalism and the growing danger of war
By Nick Beams, 4 June 2016
The global economy is increasingly marked by the return of the types of economic nationalism that had such devastating consequences in the 1930s.
Economic conflicts threaten global trade war
By Nick Beams, 3 June 2016
The decision by the US International Trade Commission to launch an investigation into 40 Chinese steel producers has far-reaching implications.
Financial parasitism and the global housing crisis
By Gabriel Black, 31 May 2016
Rent and housing costs in major cities have skyrocketed since the financial crisis, cutting into workers’ living standards and prompting concerns about a global housing bubble.
Deepening national antagonisms dominate G7 summit
By Nick Beams, 27 May 2016
The G7 nations are seeking to ramp up military pressure against China, amid a deepening economic slump and divisions within their own ranks.
International finance capital and the strikes in France
By Nick Beams, 25 May 2016
The aim of the “structural reforms” demanded by the IMF and the financial elites is the destruction of all the social gains of the European working class won in the past seven decades.
Currency conflicts surface at G-7 meeting
By Nick Beams, 23 May 2016
As with other major economic summits in the recent period, the weekend meeting of the G-7 could reach no agreement on co-ordinated measures to halt the stagnation of the global economy.
Growing warnings over Chinese debt
By Nick Beams, 18 May 2016
The IMF has reported that one sixth of Chinese business loans are on the books of companies earning less revenue than their interest payments.
US department store sales plunge, jobless claims rise
By Barry Grey, 17 May 2016
The slump in major chain store sales reflects the impact of a vast reordering of class relations in the US with devastating consequences for the working class.
Deepening contradictions within the global economy
By Nick Beams, 5 May 2016
Just as the economics of the present period are increasingly resembling the 1930s, so are the politics.
Australian government budget sets stage for volatile federal election
By James Cogan, 4 May 2016
The budget is predicated on cutbacks to working-class living standards in order to finance the ramping up of military spending and corporate tax cuts.
Apple sales decline points to faultlines in global economy
By Barry Grey, 28 April 2016
Apple exemplifies the unprecedented and unsustainable inflation of stock prices since the Wall Street crash of September 2008.
China debt levels reach record high
By Nick Beams, 26 April 2016
China’s debt levels have risen rapidly since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, with some analysts warning that the country may experience a “Lehman” disaster.
Divisions grow over European Central Bank policy
By Nick Beams, 22 April 2016
German criticism of the ECB’s negative interest rate regime is not the result of differences over monetary policy philosophy but is rooted in the political economy of German capitalism.
Doha oil talks collapse
By Nick Beams, 19 April 2016
The main reason for the failure to agree on an oil production freeze appears to be tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are on opposites sides in conflicts in the Middle East.
US corporate tax cheats hiding $1.4 trillion in profits in offshore accounts
By Patrick Martin, 15 April 2016
A report by Oxfam found that the 50 largest US corporations are evading $111 billion in US taxes per year—enough to wipe out child poverty in America.
Panama Papers reveal New Zealand is a tax haven for world’s elites
By John Braddock, 15 April 2016
Successive Labour and National governments are responsible for New Zealand laws that allow foreign trusts to carry out massive tax avoidance.
Economic nationalism and the global steel crisis
By Nick Beams, 14 April 2016
The program of economic nationalism promoted by the steel bosses, political leaders and the trade union bureaucrats leads to depression and ultimately war.
Financial instability far from over, says IMF
By Nick Beams, 14 April 2016
The IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report concluded that the market turbulence seen at the start of the year is not over and could be a warning of things to come.
IMF downgrades growth projections, warns of “synchronized slowdown”
By Barry Grey, 13 April 2016
Particularly striking is the prominence given in the IMF report to the impact of “noneconomic” factors in the deepening economic quagmire.
IMF to meet amid worsening stagnation and rising geo-economic tensions
By Nick Beams, 12 April 2016
As global growth continues to slow, there are rising concerns that the negative interest rate policies of major central banks are worsening the situation.
Panama Papers destabilise Cameron government in UK
By Chris Marsden, 11 April 2016
Britain stands at the epicentre of an international web of corruption serving the interests of a financial oligarchy that rules the entire planet.
Amid deepening slump, geopolitical and class tensions mount
By Nick Beams, 9 April 2016
The International Monetary Fund has called for enhanced global cooperation, but every tendency is heading in the opposite direction, with economic nationalism and militarism on the rise.
Panama Papers revelation triggers political crises around the globe
By Jordan Shilton, 7 April 2016
As pressure builds on Britain’s Conservative government over the tax arrangements of Prime Minister David Cameron, it is becoming clear that the Panama Papers are merely the tip of the iceberg.
The reality behind the “Save our Steel” campaign in Britain
By Robert Stevens, 6 April 2016
Whatever deal Tata and the government cook up with the private buyers of threatened steel plants, the trade unions will do nothing to oppose any attacks on jobs, wages and pensions.
Imperialism, political corruption and the real face of capitalism
By Andre Damon, 6 April 2016
The publication of the “Panama Papers” has exposed the criminality that pervades the financial elite and its political representatives.
UK central to global tax avoidance
Cameron government implicated in Panama Papers revelations
By Chris Marsden, 6 April 2016
The leaked Panama Papers detailing widespread global tax avoidance place the UK at the centre of this operation.
IMF report points to sources of increasing financial turbulence
By Nick Beams, 5 April 2016
The ever-closer integration of the global economy has led to increased financial instability and turbulence, and heightened “systemic risk.”
“Panama papers” tax evasion leak stokes political crises worldwide
By Andre Damon, 5 April 2016
Documents provided to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists tie hundreds of wealthy individuals and world leaders to offshore havens used in tax evasion and money laundering.
UK Tata Steel operation at centre of escalating trade war
By Robert Stevens, 4 April 2016
The Labour Party and the trade unions have responded to the planned closure of Tata Steel’s UK plants with demands for protectionism and trade war.
The political economy of endless austerity
By Nick Beams, 31 March 2016
The imposition of austerity is determined not by a lack of economic resources, but by the relentless logic of the profit system.
Japanese economy continues to show signs of faltering
By Ben McGrath, 29 March 2016
A negative interest rate introduced in January by the Bank of Japan has done nothing to promote economic growth.
Economic nationalism, war and the fight for international socialism
By Nick Beams, 15 March 2016
The end result of the program of economic nationalism can be seen in the experience of the 1930s, when it brought about social devastation and led to world war.
Central banks confront unintended consequences
By Nick Beams, 15 March 2016
Markets are awaiting decisions by the Bank of Japan and the US Fed on monetary policies as concerns grow over negative interest rates.
European Central Bank cuts rates and pours more money into financial markets
By Nick Beams, 11 March 2016
The ECB’s latest measures will do nothing to boost the real economy, but only lead to further financial speculation and increase the danger of a currency war.
As Chinese exports plunge
IMF issues new warning on global economy
By Nick Beams, 10 March 2016
The sharp fall in Chinese exports reflects a decline in global trade that has been expressed as well in US trade data.
Bank for International Settlements warns of build-up of global debt
By Nick Beams, 8 March 2016
The European Central Bank is to meet on Thursday amid rising concerns over the longer-term consequences of the global proliferation of negative interest rates.
Chinese premier outlines plans for accelerated pro-market restructuring
By Peter Symonds, 7 March 2016
The Chinese Communist Party’s only “plan” is to further open the economy for private investment, both foreign and domestic, in the hope that it will drive economic growth.
China and Brazil: Two expressions of the deepening capitalist breakdown
By Nick Beams, 4 March 2016
As the “BRICS model” of economic growth disintegrates, conditions are emerging for another financial crisis.
Chinese government prepares to sack millions of workers
By John Ward and Peter Symonds, 3 March 2016
The emergence of huge overcapacities in China’s basic industries is intimately bound up with the continuing worldwide economic slump.
Chinese slowdown continues amid plans for major job cuts
By Nick Beams, 2 March 2016
Fears of where the global economy is heading led former British Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls to warn of “echoes of the 1930s.”
G-20 summit rules out coordinated stimulus
By Nick Beams, 29 February 2016
Despite calls for fiscal stimulus by the International Monetary Fund, the only area in which the major economic powers are increasing their spending is on the military.
Indian ruling elite in economic bind
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 27 February 2016
Longstanding tensions between India’s BJP-led government and the country’s central bank over how to revive India’s flagging economy have intensified in the run-up to Monday’s budget speech.
Perplexity and divisions mark G-20 meeting
By Nick Beams, 26 February 2016
The G-20 meeting in Shanghai is riven by the widening divisions between the major capitalist powers as the crisis of the global economy intensifies.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank in crisis
By Gustav Kemper, 23 February 2016
Fears of collapse and panic sell-offs on the stock market have halved Deutsche Bank’s value over the course of a year to €20 billion.
“Secular stagnation” and the contradictions of capitalism
By Nick Beams, 23 February 2016
The lowering of interest rates, quantitative easing and now negative interest rates are only compounding financial instability and laying the basis for another crisis.
Global volatility triggers concerns about Australian banks
By Mike Head, 20 February 2016
The ongoing collapse of commodity prices has placed question marks over the exposure of the banks to losses in the resources sector.
OECD downgrades global growth forecast
By Nick Beams, 19 February 2016
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said global growth has “practically flat-lined” and financial instability risks are on the rise.
Real estate statistics point to precarious state of Chinese economy
By John Ward, 19 February 2016
For the past seven years, speculative property investment has maintained growth in China, but this has laid the foundation for a broader crisis.
Economic problems mount in Japan and China
By Nick Beams, 17 February 2016
The latest statistics from the world’s second and third largest economies underscore the worsening world downturn.
Stock market panic risks new financial crisis
By Andre Damon, 12 February 2016
The global sell-off expresses growing fears that the trillions pumped into the financial system since 2008 have done nothing to improve its underlying health, and may have sown the seeds for a crash on an even greater scale.
A new stage in the global economic breakdown
By Nick Beams, 9 February 2016
The growing financial crisis in China, marked by capital flight and mounting concerns over debt levels, is accompanied by increasing doubts about the stability of the entire global banking system.
Oil price fall brings significant losses for big producers
By Nick Beams, 5 February 2016
The conventional wisdom was that the fall in oil prices would boost the economy, but this soothing scenario has been shattered.
The Ezubao scam: A sign of deeper problems in China’s financial system
By Peter Symonds, 5 February 2016
Ezubao was part of the largely unregulated peer-to-peer online finance industry that has drawn in millions of small investors with the offer of high returns.
Global manufacturing continues to fall
By Nick Beams, 2 February 2016
The Chinese steel industry recorded a loss of more than $9 billion for 2015, in the clearest expression of China’s economic slowdown.
Japan moves to negative interest rates
By Nick Beams, 30 January 2016
A quarter of the world’s gross domestic product now emanates from countries with negative official interest rates, an unprecedented situation in the history of world capitalism.
Wall Street falls on global growth fears
By Nick Beams, 28 January 2016
A downturn in the share prices of two major companies, Apple and Boeing, was responsible for more than half of yesterday’s fall in the Dow.
Global slowdown to deepen attacks on jobs
By Nick Beams, 25 January 2016
Stock markets recovered some of their losses at the end of the last week, but the underlying trend in the world economy is slower growth and outright recession.
The political significance of the global economic turmoil
By Nick Beams, 21 January 2016
The turmoil on global markets is an expression of the breakdown of the mechanisms and structures that have sustained world capitalism over the past quarter-century.
The ruling class meets at Davos
By Andre Damon, 19 January 2016
This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland takes place against the backdrop of a deepening global crisis and soaring inequality.
What is driving the stock market panic?
By Barry Grey, 18 January 2016
After more than seven years of bailouts and trillions in virtually free cash for the banks and financial markets, the real economy has not only not recovered from the Wall Street crash of 2008, it is rapidly deteriorating.
Global stocks plunge amid fears of a new financial crisis
By Barry Grey, 16 January 2016
Friday’s selloff, with the EURO STOXX/50 index down 2.37 percent and all of the major US indexes lower by well over 2 percent, caps off the worst-ever yearly opening for Wall Street.
Wave of selling hits US markets
By Nick Beams, 14 January 2016
The sharp downturn in US markets has come amid a series of statements by banking officials that the conditions for a new financial crisis are rapidly developing.
China’s deep economic malaise
By Peter Symonds, 13 January 2016
The economic slowdown, which is exposing massive overcapacity and high levels of debt, is threatening to trigger an upsurge in the class struggle.
Chinese markets continue to fall, amid mounting concerns over growth
By Nick Beams, 12 January 2016
The Shenzhen Composite Index has fallen by more than 20 percent so far this year, wiping off almost $1 trillion from share values.
Australian stocks fall sharply on China and global fears
By Mike Head, 12 January 2016
A new year sharemarket rout highlights Australian capitalism’s acute vulnerability to the slowing growth and signs of economic instability in China.
Global markets continue to fall
By Nick Beams, 9 January 2016
The impact of events in China points to the worsening situation facing major Western corporations.
Stock markets continue to plunge amidst growing signs of economic crisis
By Andre Damon, 8 January 2016
The continued sell-off points to growing fears of a divergence between stock market values, which have been rising for nearly six years, and the slowdown of the world economy.
Global financial turmoil continues on fears of slower growth
By Nick Beams, 7 January 2016
The fall in oil prices to their lowest level in 11 years points to deepening recessionary trends that increase the risk of defaults in high-risk, high-yield bonds.
The New Year stock sell-off
By Barry Grey, 5 January 2016
The indicators of a deepening crisis in production sent shock waves through the financial markets because they portend the looming collapse of a vast speculative house of cards built up since the 2008 Wall Street crash.
2016 will be a year of escalating class struggle
By Jerry White, 4 January 2016
Class conflict will become an ever-more dominant feature of life in 2016 as the ruling classes in the US and around the world demand that workers pay for the global economic crisis.
IMF head warns of slow growth and economic “shocks” in 2016
By Barry Grey, 31 December 2015
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde wrote that global economic growth next year would be “disappointing” and the outlook for the medium term had also deteriorated.
On the threshold of the New Year
By Joseph Kishore and David North, 31 December 2015
It is characteristic of a period of crisis that more and more the essential nature of capitalism—a system of exploitation, inequality, war and repression—comes into alignment with the everyday experiences of broad masses of people.
A New Year’s sense of foreboding over the global economy
By Nick Beams, 30 December 2015
Economic developments in 2015 were dominated by intensifying recessionary trends throughout the world economy.
WTO buries Doha Round: Another rupture in the post-war order
By Nick Beams, 22 December 2015
The decision to end the Doha Round signifies the end of the multilateralism that formed a crucial foundation of post-World War II economic expansion.
After Fed rate hike, global economic fault lines deepen
By Nick Beams, 19 December 2015
The growing turbulence in financial markets is a manifestation of deepening recessionary trends in the global economy.
Federal Reserve begins “dovish tightening” with first rate hike in nine years
By Barry Grey, 17 December 2015
Fed Chair Janet Yellen stressed that further increases would be incremental and gradual and interest rates would remain abnormally low, triggering a sharp rise in US stock prices.
Junk bond crisis brings “stress” warning
By Nick Beams, 15 December 2015
The price of oil is at its lowest point for seven years with natural gas prices at the lowest level in more than a decade, sparking a crisis in the bond markets.
Junk bond panic signals new stage in crisis of world capitalism
By Barry Grey, 14 December 2015
The mounting crisis in the junk bond market has profound and convulsive implications for the entire credit system, in the US and internationally.
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