Imagine what would happen if America left the IMF
Withdrawal would undermine US international prestige and the privileged role of its financial institutions
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Do those so-called US recession indicators actually mean anything? | Gene Marks
The media likes to advertise well-known metrics like unemployment and the ‘lipstick index’, but the truth is that no one really knows
As someone who keeps a close eye on the economy, I often bump into those strange metrics that people like to write about that, supposedly, unlock the secret of whether or not a recession is looming.
Given what’s going on, it’s no surprise that they are back again. Just last week Bloomberg reported a cut in spending at hair stylists. There’s the “lipstick index” – in tough economic times, women load up on lipstick instead of spending their dwindling funds on bigger-ticket items. Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan liked to follow men’s underwear sales because hey, when times are tough, we guys are not willing to buy new shorts.
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Labour must focus on risk to global financial stability posed by Trump policies, not only trade | Heather Stewart
As Rachel Reeves heads to US for IMF meetings, stance appears unaltered despite chaos unleashed by White House
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have underlined how much the world has changed after Donald Trump’s “liberation day”, with the UK prime minister even declaring an end to globalisation.
But as the chancellor prepares to fly to Washington this week to meet her global counterparts at the International Monetary Fund meetings, Labour appears to see the risks purely in terms of the hit to international trade.
Another crisis, another IMF summit: but unlike 2008, the delegates are disunited
Where once the world came together to fight the credit crunch, Trump’s tariffs will set a more divisive test
When the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors gather at the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week, it may kindle memories of another meeting, also held against the backdrop of a global economic crisis, in autumn 2008.
Then, as the aftershocks from the collapse of Lehman Brothers ripped through financial markets, central banks coordinated drastic emergency rate cuts, and the UK chancellor, Alistair Darling, urged his G7 counterparts to emulate the UK’s approach and shore up stricken banks.