Week of Sept 9 2016 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“Move on, understand what happened in the past but do not have an emotional attachment to it.” — unknown
1. G20 Meeting Communique From China — the heads of the world’s top economies declared in a joint communique following a summit in Hangzhou, China that “We are determined to use all policy tools – monetary, fiscal and structural – individually and collectively to achieve our goal of strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth,”. G20 leaders also reiterated their support for “international tax cooperation, a transparent financial system, environmentally sustainable growth strategies, energy collaboration, and opposition to protectionism on trade and investment in all its forms.”
2. Chinese Trade Improves in August — China logged stronger-than-expected trade data in August as imports unexpectedly climbed for the first time in nearly two years and the slump in exports abated. In U.S. dollar terms, imports rose 1.5% compared to a year ago, a significant improvement from the 12.5% decline in July, while exports fell 2.8% on-year, following last month’s 4.4% drop. That brought a trade surplus to a seven-month high of $52.05B, slightly below July’s $52.31B.
3. Senate Panel To Probe EpiPen Pricing — the U.S. Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations will be the next to probe Mylan’s (NASDAQ:MYL) pricing of the EpiPen, describing the review as a “preliminary inquiry.” Despite heat over the allergy auto-injector’s cost, EpiPen sales recorded a 32% increase in the first three weeks of August compared to the same period of 2015.
4. North Korea Conducts Fifth Nuclear Test — just hours after multiple global agencies detected a magnitude 5.3 earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear test site, Pyongyang declared it had conducted its fifth nuclear test and was now able to produce miniaturized nuclear warheads. South Korea’s vice finance minister said the government will closely monitor financial markets and guard against geopolitical risks linked to the North’s actions.
5. American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Latest Sentiment Survey — In the latest survey from AAII, bullish sentiment increased from 28.6% up to 29.75%. This week’s sub-30 reading also represents the 45th straight week where bullish sentiment was under 40%. below 30%, it is generally a sign of pessimism.
The latest survey also showed that bearish sentiment declined from 31.52% to 28.48%. With that decline, bearish sentiment is now once again lower than bullish sentiment for the first time in three weeks.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
