Earlier today Japan delivered a slightly better than expected GDP growth report for the first quarter of 2021. The annualized reading came in at -3.9% against a forecast of -4.8%. However, this will most likely not be enough to help the Japanese yen strengthen against stronger currencies.
There were also GDP growth reports (the third revision) for Q1 from the eurozone as well. Those came in at -0.3% (QoQ) and -1.3% (YoY), both better than the forecasts. So far, GDP and PMI reports have been generally positive and showing an economic recovery in the European Union, while inflation data has been in line with the forecasts.
However, the ZEW economic sentiment index for June was a bit disappointing, showing smaller numbers for both the eurozone and Germany.
Other interesting reports today included the Balance of Trade reports from Canada and the United States, which were both better than the forecasts.
On the stock market, today we expect all major US indices to trade mixed, with very low volatility. They are also waiting for the inflation reports from the United States due this Thursday, so for now investors have refused to commit to a trend.
One company to keep an eye on right now is Tesla. Despite the growth of the electric vehicle market, Tesla is losing market shares and it also lost one of its key executives this week. A shake-up in leadership goes hand in hand with losses in share value, and that is likely going to happen this week.
Cryptocurrencies are also taking a hit at the moment due to a statement by the US government that it managed to track down and reclaim most of the money Colonial Pipelines had to pay in a ransomware attack recently. This shows that Bitcoin is not as anonymous and untraceable as previously believed. Though it might help improve the reputation of cryptocurrencies (as it would drive criminal interest away from Bitcoin), right now this discovery is hurting them.
Meanwhile, talk about the G7 minimum corporate tax deal continues. Though many expected that some nations in the OECD might oppose the agreement because they benefit from being “tax havens,” it seems that the United States, the place where the idea came from, might actually be one of the most heated battlegrounds for the proposal. As many of the multinational companies that will be affected by the tax are actually US-based, Republican Senators are expected to put up a lot of resistance to the plan.
