The World Blog by humble servant.

0/17/18 2:00 PM FOMC Minutes Sep NA NA NA 10/17/18 7:00 AM MBA Mortgage Applications Index 10/13 NA NA -1.7% 10/17/18 8:30 AM Housing Starts Sep 1230K 1221K 1282K 10/17/18 8:30 AM Building Permits Sep 1280K 1273K 1229K 10/17/18 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 10/13 NA NA +5.99M

Last week, Trump blamed the Fed for the massive stock sell-off that caused the Dow to plummet 832 points in a single day - its largest single-day point drop since February and its fourth-worst point loss in history. He is on record urging the central bank to focus on “what’s good for the country” instead of raising rates, which can hurt consumers because it increases the costs of borrowing. Read more © Reuters / Lucas JacksonUS stocks facing another fire-sale session as futures dip Trump also shared his misgivings about Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in February to replace Janet Yellen. “I’m not blaming anybody,” he said, acknowledging he may have made a mistake in choosing Powell for the post. Powell defended the rate hikes in August, claiming the policy was the best way to maintain economic recovery and promote job growth while controlling inflation. The Fed uses the personal-consumption expenditures index, currently at 2.2 percent, to gauge inflation. Except for...

Washington’s aggressive policy against Moscow could be a sufficient reason behind the recent fall of the dollar’s share of global central-bank reserves, according to economist at US multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs. Russia’s Central Bank has sold some $85 billion of its $150 billion holding of the US assets from April through June after the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions on Russian businessmen, companies and government officials, says Goldman’s strategist Zach Pandl said, as quoted by Bloomberg. Read more © Grigory DukorList of Russian businessmen & companies added to US sanctions At the beginning of April, Washington expanded its anti-Russian sanction list, including seven Russian tycoons, 12 companies and 17 senior government officials over alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. According to Pandl, the co-head of global FX and emerging-market strategy, the US policy of unilateral tariff hikes and sanctions is putting at ri...

China and Japan – the two main holders of the US Treasury securities – have trimmed their ownership of notes and bonds in August, according to the latest figures from the US Treasury Department, released on Tuesday. China’s holdings of US sovereign debt dropped to $1.165 trillion in August, from $1.171 trillion in July, marking the third consecutive month of declines as the world’s second-largest economy bolsters its national currency amid trade tensions with the US. China remains the biggest foreign holder of US Treasuries, followed by long-time US ally Japan. Read more © Getty ImagesUS sanctions policy against Russia undermines dollar's reserve currency position – Goldman Sachs Tokyo cut its holdings of US securities to $1.029 trillion in August, the lowest since October 2011. In July, Japan’s holdings were at $1.035 trillion. According to the latest figures from the country’s Ministry of Finance, Japanese investors opted to buy British debt in August, selling US and German ...