Business Matters with Don Ma

Former President Donald Trump says that, if he becomes President, he should have a say in the fed's interest rate decisions - a policy that impacts the world economy. Stellantis is laying off almost 2,500 factory workers from an assembly plant outside of Detroit. The automaker is ending production of the Ram 1500 Classic truck. The layoffs will be effective as early as Oct. 8, the company said.

JP Morgan now raising the odds of a recession by the end of this year to 35-percent. That’s up from 25-percent. The news comes after a weaker than expected July jobs report and the sharp sell-off in global equities over the unwinding of the yen-funded carry trades.American budgets are being stretched. A new report shows the average credit card balance is more than $6,300 and more are falling behind on payments.

$17-point-eight trillion dollars. That's the latest number for U-S household debt on, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And the largest on record. Auto loan and mortgage debt rose and credit card debt reached an all-time high. Important news for investors coming out of Japan today. The country's central bank signalling it will hold off raising interest rates while markets are quote 'volatile'. Normally Japanese interest rates are not something we're all that worried about. But after the Bank of Japan raised rates for only the second time in 17 years last week it sent global markets into a tizzy.

We've been covering how the unwinding of a popular trade has rippled through global markets. JP Morgan and UBS saying today that the unwind is only 50% done. For years, investors around the world have been taking advantage of Japan's 0% interest rate policy. The low rates in essence allowed investors to borrow money for next to nothing, and use it to buy stocks, bonds, or anything else in the global financial market. This has been a safe and profitable trade over the years. But that all changed last week after the Japanese central raised interest rates above 0% for the first time in 17 years. Google may be the one who lost an antitrust lawsuit but Apple is likely going to take a hit too.A federal judge ruled that Google paying companies to make its search engine the default browser violates U-S antitrust law. For two decades, Google has paid Apple a chunk of its search revenue made on Apple devices. Court documents estimated that number to be around 20-billion-dollars in 2022. Google may have to scrap that deal with Apple.

All three major US indexes in the deep red today. And it wasn't just the United States. Japan's Nikkei closing over 12% lower today. It's worst day since 1987. That's when Black Monday hit Wall Street. We look at what the unwinding of the yen carry trade may have to do with it.A federal judge has ruled that Google’s payments to make its search engine the default browser violates U-S antitrust law. The $26 billion dollars in payments effectively blocked any other competitors from succeeding in the market, according to the judge.