Eastern headwinds: China’s economy cooled further in the latest quarter, dragging 2015’s full-year growth to a quarter-century low and deepening a slowdown that has fueled anxiety over its impact on the global economy. The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.9% in 2015, its government announced this morning, down from 7.3% in the previous year. For the October-December quarter, growth inched down to 6.8%, the weakest quarterly expansion in six years. The Associated Press reports China’s growth has fallen steadily over the past five years as the ruling Communist Party tries to steer away from a worn-out model based on investment and trade toward self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption and services. Read the full story.
Feeling the glut: Oil prices could fall further this year as the market faces an “enormous strain” on its ability to absorb new supplies from producers such as Iran, a top world energy monitor announced this morning. “The oil market faces the prospect of a third successive year when supply will exceed demand by 1 million barrels per day and there will be enormous strain on the ability of the oil system to absorb it efficiently,” the International Energy Agency says in its first monthly report of the year. The oil markets could be left with a surplus of 1.5 million barrels a day in the first half of 2016, and “unless something changes, the oil market could drown in oversupply,” it says. Crude oil prices have plunged over the last 18 months on vast new oil supplies from inside and outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Brent crude touched its lowest level since 2003 on Monday. The Wall Street Journal has the full story (subscription may be required).
Filing frenzy: When the IRS begins accepting tax returns today, nearly all of the parties involved—taxpayers, tax authorities and software providers alike—will be on alert. As The Washington Post reports, the scars of the previous filing season—which was marked by an apparent surge in tax fraud and a precipitous decline in the IRS’s customer service—are evident as officials and taxpayers gear up for the new session. Tax officials and tax preparation companies are touting new security measures meant to crack down on the criminals that use stolen data to file fraudulent tax returns. IRS commissioner John Koskinen says the agency is making some changes to fight fraud this year and “because of these new protections, taxpayers may notice some minor—but important—changes when they file their returns.” Read the full story.
