Worldwide Bull Market Rally Hits 18-Month High
The MSCI World Stock Market Index reached an 18-month high today of 1,212.14, the highest closing index level since late September 2008. Compared to a year ago, world stock markets have risen by more than 48%.Related story:
(Reuters) - "Factories in the United States, Europe and Asia cranked up production last month, suggesting recovery from a deep recession was taking root in economies around the globe. The U.S. manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in more than five years last month and activity in Europe bounced higher, with a cheaper euro helping stimulate exports. UK manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace since 1994, while China's vast industrial sector also grew in March."
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U.S. Census hiring to lift March payrolls
Fri Apr 2, 2010
U.S. stocks have rallied from their recent low of February 8, partly on expectations that March would mark a significant turnaround for the labor market.
A Reuters survey of economists forecast a gain of 190,000 jobs in March after February's drop of 36,000.
Given the distortions from the decennial census, analysts said the focus should be on private payrolls to get a clear picture of the labor market.
Private payrolls fell by 18,000 in February, but a gain is expected in March.
With 8.4 million jobs lost since December 2007, Obama is under pressure for solutions to put Americans back to work.
"...unless policymakers take bold action, all key signs point to a very long, very slow recovery for jobs," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Construction, manufacturing and retail payrolls -- hit by severe snowstorms in February -- will likely see improvements in March.
The snap back from weather-related losses should also see a modest lengthening in the average work week for all employees, which had slipped to 33.8 hours in February.
Notice that the chart begins in late 2008, so anything is a bull market after a crash.
Go back to 2006 and 2007.
I can make charts be deceptive too.
Asia forgot about this recession last year.
Interesting query for the monetarist crowd: If the money supply is of key importance, and if we have an increasingly globalized economy, it seems to follow we need a global money authority.
Otherwise, the global money supply is being contracted and expanded by multiple authorities, most of which operate with little transparency. In other words, every year is a crap-shoot, as we do not know what the collective actions of multiple and unaccountable monetary authorities will amount to.
So, true monetarists should say, "Frankly, who knows what is going on? We have a globalized economy, but no global monetary authority. We need a global monetary authority for our globalized economy."
Benny can provide some cogent comments (above for eg.) besides subsidies.
Robert Mundell (Nobel Prize in Economics) states the case for both international and local currencies.
Here is his synopsis on the subject:
""My ideal and equilibrium solution would be a world currency (but not a single world currency) in which each country would produce its own unit that exchanges at par with the world unit. We could call it the international dollar or, to avoid the parochial national connotation, the intor, a contraction of "international" and the French word for gold."
RAM
Everything would be priced in terms of intors, and a committee -- in my view, say, a G3 open market committee designated by the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund -- would determine how many intors produced each year would be consistent with price stability."
Until we have a system like this we need to have a FOREX market for all major currencies -- or else the system is gamed for substantial competitive Export advantage.
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