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As U.S. money market funds have reduced lending to French banks, and lending maturities have shortened to seven days, French banks are facing a shortage of dollars. According to the Federal Reserve, foreign banks and their branches provide 25% of the commercial and industrial loans in the U.S. In its response to this BNP expects to reduce dollar denominated loans by $42 billion by the end of 2011 and another $40 billion in 2012, according to BNP officials. Societe Generale CEO, Frederic Oudea, says his bank will pull back on making loans to shipping, aircraft, real-estate and leveraged finance in the U.S. This will reduce credit growth in the U.S. economy.

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Matsushita Electric is streamlining operations after the acquisition of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works in 2011. Restructuring is also taking place to compete with South Korean and Chinese manufacturers, and to focus on emerging markets. The restructuring will mean 17,000 job cuts over the next 2 years. The yen has appreciated 25% against the dollar since 2008, and the Korean won has depreciated by 35% during this period, making it tougher for Japanese manufacturers to compete.

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Indonesia's good harvest for rice means that it will end up with a slight surplus and will be able to met its needs without importing rice. Indonesia's Trade Ministry will further ensure supplies by banning any private exports of rice. Prices in Indonesia have increased only by 7%in the last 6 months. This should ease the tight supply situation for rice. In addition the Philippines and India are cracking down on hoarders to keep prices from rising artificially.

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Bill Pulte at FHA - $200 billion mortgage bonds purchases to reduce interest rates below 6%. 2 DJT executive orders to cut red tape in housing construction and asking Federal Reserve to be strong in housing markets. The goal is to ease supply in housing markets and reduce mortgage rates to reduce costs of getting a new home.

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The airlines are hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Reservations have declined as fewer people travel. There is a sense that a recovery will take time, several months. Delta is cutting international capacity by about 25% and domestic flights by 15%. It is also offering voluntary leave options to employees.

Southwest CEO Kelly says the severity of the decline is being felt with loss of $300 million in revenue in March. One piece of good news for airlines that offsets the severe demand decline is the fall in oil prices. American Airlines estimates the cost savings as much as $3 billion. A decade of industry profits have put the airlines in a better position to tackle the crisis. Other cost savings moves are reducing capital expenditures and managing cash flows efficiently.

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Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) CEO Emilio Lozoya is fired and replaced by Gonzalez Anaya, a close friend of finance minister Videgaray, as the company experiences a liquidity crisis by Jan. 2016. Anaya is known for cost cutting as head of Mexico's government healthcare institute. This report in the WSJ cites a Pemex official who says at one point in Jan 2016 Pemex was down to $8 million in cash. Under Lozoya Pemex failed to introduce financial discipline ahead of collapsing oil prices. Anaya is expected to cut spending by 19% or $5.8 billion. Mexico's governemt made a capital injection into Pemex of $4.2 billion to pay debts to suppliers, and offered tax relief of $2.8 billion. Pemex output is down to 2.2 million barrels a day in March 2016, decline of 4.5%. Pemex cuts will come in putting off exploraion spending of $800 million in one field in the Gulf of Mexico and paying less to rent oil platforms.

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Oil cuts of 2 million barrels a day or 2% of global oil production by OPEC Plus will lead to oil prices surging back up to levels seen earlier this year.  Weakening of oil demand with a slowdown in China and the EU was leading to a drop in oil prices from the highs reached this year. OPEC Plus which includes Russia is taking this step to keep oil prices high. 

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This view from the Editorial Board comes as Republicans in Congress geared up for a legislative victory decided to ignore the expert opinion of the Joint Committee on Taxation and polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the tax law. It says a "corrosive partisanship" that is affecting the nation has led to this decision. Not an informed consensus necessary to make real and lasting changes to the tax laws that increase growth without disrupting hard won gains in social cohesion after World War II.  Republicans pushed through a trillion and half dollars in tax cuts in the law that reduces the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, and cut taxes in 2019 by 51 times ($51,400) for the top 1% of incomes compared to ($1000) for middle class families earning less than $100,000 (Tax Policy Center). The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates it will add $1 trillion to the U.S. deficit as only $500 billion is expected in increase in government revenues over a decade from additional economic growth. This is supported by evidence from countries such as Britain that implemented this type of corporate tax cut without generating much economic growth, says Greg Ip in the Wall Street Journal. The "victory" then comes at a high cost says the Washington Post- in years to come programs to help the growing lower middle class and working class will be subject to cuts and taxes will have to rise to balance budgets.   ...

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This Guardian editorial is critical of Rishi Sunak for economic policies in Britain that reduce borrowing at a time of high inflation and falling living standards in 2022.

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U.S. frustration with China as coronavirus toll reaches 300,000 deaths worldwide. President Trump says- "They could have stopped it in China where it came from. But it didn't happen that way. " Worst hit are countries in Asia and Africa with food security threatened. After the coronavirus he says of the trade deal he signed in January- So, I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn't feel the same to me.The ink was barely dry, and the plague came over. And it doesn't feel the same to me." Under that trade deal the China agreed to buy $250 billion in additional goods and service for 2 years in an effort to correct a huge trade imbalance - built up on the advice of American economic theorists and experts who advised American presidents for three decades that it was of no consequence - in exchange for a roll back of American tariffs in stages of part of the tariffs. 

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IEA Director Fatih Birol says conservation of energy plans should be undertaken by all nations. He says Gulf countries and Saudi oil output will not be the same even when the war ends and the shipping lanes in the Hormuz Straits will not be handling the volumes of 100 ships that passed through the sea channel before the Iran War. Yet he says the best solution is for opening the Straits of Hormuz. This raises some serious questions about depending on the Straits of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf for oil supplies in 2027 and beyond. Can conservation, new sources of oil, acceleration of renewable energy use and electric car technologies lead to making the Middle East oil supplies becoming redundant, doing without this supply or turning it into a marginal source which would lower oil prices even further to the $50 level? Energy use decline for the same or higher GDP levels have potential in the US, China and India. Japan and Germany have cut energy use by about 50% in Japan and 35% in Germany with slightly higher Real GDP levels than 1996 in Japan and a 50% increase in Germany over a 30 year period( using 2015 as base year).  Major renewable energy gains have been made in the last 10 years with solar and wind technologies and electric car technologies. Much of the gains in electric car technologies lies ahead and this would cut crude oil significantly for cars and trucks which makes up 60-70% of oil use. Add to this conservation technologies. Other sources of oil can be found. And Venezuelan, Alaskan oil can be ramped up to replace volatile sources from the Middle East.  ...