Economy

Today's Stock Exchange
Wall Street's decline slowed after new Iran data

Wall Street has been trading in the red all day after Trump's threat against Iran that "an entire civilization will die tonight". Shortly before closing, information came that Iran had responded positively to Pakistan's proposal for a ceasefire, which caused the stock exchange to slowly move above zero. At closing, it looked like this:

• S&P500: +0.1%
• Nasdaq: +0.1%
• Dow Jones: -0.2%

"The market remains volatile. It continues to oscillate between hopes for a de-escalation and Trump's fulfillment of his threats," Wolf von Rotberg, equity strategist at Bank J Safra Sarasin, told Bloomberg.

On the corporate front, Broadcom  rose around 6 percent on the news that the company had entered into a chip deal with Google. Alphabet, Google's parent company, was trading over 2 percent.

Apple fell back a little over 2 percent after reports from Asia that the company had suffered "setbacks in the technical testing phase" for its foldable phone, CNBC writes.

Healthcare company Humana rose about 8 percent after a proposal to increase payments to privately run healthcare companies in the US. Sector colleague United Health rose 9 percent.

Jeans giant Levi’s reports after the close tonight. The stock was trading just above zero at the close.

Oil prices fell after the positive news from Iran. When Wall Street closed, gasoline was at $107 per barrel and WTI oil was at $112.

New York Stock  Exchanges Yesterday
S&P500: +0.4%
Nasdaq: +0.5%
Dow Jones: +0.4%

China's housing bubble
Sources: Crisis moves from China's banks after the housing price crash

China's slowing housing market means that many people now have mortgages that exceed the value of their property. Sources told Bloomberg that several state-owned banks have started offering customers both interest- and amortization-free periods of up to two years.

Local courts around the country have also slowed down the pace of accepting cases of unpaid mortgages in an attempt to limit the number of forced sales.

“It never occurred to me that buying a home would put me in this mess,” says a stressed apartment owner in the city of Chengdu.

According to Bloomberg, home prices have fallen by more than 30 percent in several of China’s major cities, measured from recent record levels.

The development of the Swedish krona
The krona loses: “It is partly a correction”

The krona falls on Tuesday and one euro costs over 11 kronor at the time of writing. According to Ulf Andersson, chief economist at DNB Carnegie, it is not surprising that the krona has been so strong during the year.

– It is partly a correction, he tells EFN.

According to Andersson, however, the biggest explanation is this morning's weak inflation figure from Statistics Sweden.