The Daily Shot Brief – January 31st, 2020

Greetings,

 

The United States: Mortgage rates are near the recent lows again, …

 

… and online search activity for home finance is at multi-year highs.

 

The United Kingdom: Some economists think that part of the reason for the unusually low UK productivity is fewer young Britons changing jobs.

The Economist: – Youngsters’ job-stickiness may help to explain the puzzle of Britain’s awful productivity, which is lower than that of comparable countries and growing only feebly. If workers do not move from job to job, resources will move more slowly from low-productivity firms to high-productivity ones.

 

Asia-Pacific: Goldman expects the regional monetary easing cycle to fade this year. Of course, much will depend on the progress in containing the coronavirus.

 

China: Bloomberg’s economists see substantial downside risks to growth this quarter.

 

Rates: The US central bank’s pace of T-Bill purchases has been impressive.

 

But it hasn’t boosted the reserves as quickly as some would like to see.

 

Food for Thought: S&P 500 effective tax rates by sector:

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Edited by Devon Lall

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