Daily update
Daily update
- Government by social media—US President-elect Trump pledged to hit US consumers with aggressive consumption tax hikes immediately on taking office. A 25% tax for consumers of Mexican and Canadian goods and an additional 10% tax on consumers of goods from China is proposed.
- These taxes may be bargaining tools (they are linked to drug trafficking and immigration). That could mean they are a short-lived gesture. However, there is little time to stockpile goods. The taxes apply at point of import, so an additional 10% tax on goods from China implies consumers pay 4% more (on average) for those goods in stores. Areas like the auto sector, which has highly integrated supply chains across the Mexico-US and Canada-US borders, are very vulnerable.
- The US conference board consumer confidence data is due, and will be distorted by partisan bias. Because Republicans tend to be more emotional than Democrats in survey responses, the net effect of Republican euphoria and Democrat despondency should be higher sentiment.
- The UK BRC shop price measure showed continued deflation in November, as expected. There are seven ECB speaking events today (why?), after four yesterday and over thirty last week. The minutes of the November Federal Reserve meeting are also scheduled.
