Once again, the economy of China is the exception, with continuous leveraging which could be coming to an end. In turn, the economies of Japan and Germany have been in a continuous deleveraging process since 1999.

The efficient-market hypothesis becomes questionable with the phrase “sell in May and go away”, because if really the case, the market will have already reflected the available information and the value of the stock before May arrives.

The effect of this has been seen in the performance of Argentina’s debt in the EMBI+, which has shown major improvement for one year now. Using basis points, the EMBI+ measures the difference between bond performance in emerging countries and American treasury bonds, Eurobonds and other risk-free economic instruments.

Typically, it is believed that a nation’s central bank is the resolute decider of the economy of its nation. In today’s day and age, in the political-economic establishment of international bureaucracies, it is easy to envision the end of the world for some nations without the central bank. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It serves as a decentralized entity broken up into 12 districts across the country and a Board of Governors in Washington D.C. Founded in 1913, its decisions throughout history have always proven to be controversial.

After years of poor performance, both in absolute and relative terms, these markets have finally produced some good news for investors. The aggregate index for emerging markets has increased 6.6% so far this year.

The political landscape is also making headlines around the world: there is a growing trend supporting Europe’s extreme left and right with the result of the German referendum last week, the possible outcome of the US primaries, Jeremy Corbyn’s support from the United Kingdom, and France’s extreme right.

What all of us already knew has now been confirmed: the Spanish government body came far from achieving the budget deficit goal for the close of 2015. Final figure have come in at 5.16% of GDP, compared to the 4.2% that they had promised to Brussels.

The country of Venezuela is dangerously approaching hyperinflation. At 2015’s year-end, official figures had yearly inflation at or above 180% (some private sector estimated it at 330%). The technical definition of hyperinflation is when inflation is at 50% or more per month, meaning that Venezuela is not yet at this point, but does seem to be approaching at an accelerated pace.

The rise of China’s stock market in early April signaled that the world’s second largest economy is not in the terrible conditions that many believed. The recovery of exports in March—which broke the streak of nine months without any growth—seems to have convinced many that China is not going through a hard landing.

Perhaps the most important theoretical topic concerning the economy as a discipline is attempting to explain the idea of economic cycles. In practical terms, an economic cycle is understood as being a periodic fluctuation in national income, employment and prices. Successful, and sometimes not so successful, attempts at an explanation have been made in both the media and academic worlds.