globalEDGE Blog - Page 135

Global markets have faced a rough beginning in 2016, and Latin America has been no exception. The World Bank projected that Latin America would not be growing at all in 2016, and the International Monetary Fund is projecting the growth at below 1%. In the last five years, Latin America has faced declining growth, and 2016 brings concerns of political friction and subsequent economic changes.

Are you interested in the global trade initiatives of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)? How about properly pricing a product or service in a new market or the trade opportunities for U.S. companies in Norway? If the answer is yes, be sure to check out the globalEDGE Business Beat today. The globalEDGE Business Beat is a radio show hosted by Dr. Tomas Hult from the International Business Center at Michigan State University that features conversations with experts in the field of international trade. These podcast segments are rich with international business knowledge and are a great way to improve your international business acumen. 

The World Bank has reduced its forecast for global growth for a third year in a row due to weakness in the developing world. Global markets hit a rough patch in the beginning of 2016 due to weak Chinese data, the fall of currencies in emerging-markets, decreased stock prices, and an increase in the value of the U.S. dollar. The World Bank’s forecast involved three optimistic assumptions for global growth, being that commodity prices will stabilize and that the Chinese government will able to manage the transition away from rapid and unsustainable growth. The other assumption that was made in the forecast was that the interest-rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve wouldn’t damage the U.S. economy or have a negative impact in the global financial market.

2015 was a year of reality checks for Asia, realizing no country can grow at double digits forever, commodities dug out of the ground can't be sold at ridiculously high prices, and cheap U.S. money doesn't last forever. Now what will 2016 hold for Asia?

Greetings from Singapore, where the talk in this city-state is centered squarely on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The AEC came into being, officially, on December 31, 2015, and businesses are abuzz about the AEC's potential for growing the economies of the 10 member states.

China, the world’s second largest economy and a key market for many nations, began 2016 with a slowed economic pace, as the manufacturing industry contracted for the fifth month straight in December. This suggests that the government may have to implement new policies to prevent a potential slowdown. The services sector ended positively, but the economy as a whole is still on track to grow at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century.

In a recent Entrepreneur article, Jane Porter discusses the psychology of the average workday, giving tips on how to get more out of each day. In today’s blog, we will look some of the suggestions given in the article, as well as take a broader look to see how a normal workday might differ in several countries. One of the main takeaways from the article is that workers should look at the workday as several blocks of time, instead of one single eight-hour period to accomplish their tasks. Splitting the day into sections takes advantage of what psychology tells us about our brains and behaviors, and may help workers accomplish more of the goals they set out for themselves.

Infrastructure is the foundation of economic and social well-being anywhere in the world. Currently, all across the globe, there is a gap widening between infrastructure in place and what is truly needed. It is estimated by EY, a multinational professional services firm, that to close this gap by 2030 it will require upwards of $50 trillion U.S. dollars. It is now more important than ever to get this infrastructure procurement right through project financing and public-private partnerships (PPPs).

The United States Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike after a decade has prompted fears of financial turmoil in emerging markets. This rate hike is significant to global markets because the strengthening of the U.S. dollar could cause trouble in countries where firms have borrowed heavily with American currency, and the weaker domestic currencies could make it more difficult to pay back the dollar debt. In 2015, investors have withdrawn $500 billion from emerging markets, and this new development could prompt a larger outflow in the coming months from emerging markets.

In 2015, the NASDAQ is up 6.1%; thanks to its tech heavy nature, with companies like Netflix, Google, and Amazon traded on the exchange. “Some of the big Nasdaq names—Amazon, Google and Netflix—those stocks have powered the market forward this year,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth LLC. He also added, “People were looking for growth in a very low-growth economy.” This plays a predictive part for 2016 when the population will be looking for the next fast rising stock by making them focus on the tech base stocks over other ones. In 2015 alone, Netflix has increased its share price by 140%. This rapid increase is the effect of Netflix being present in the daily lives of millions of users and its gained popularity over the last twelve months.