US Economics Weekly Farmland: Is the bubble bursting? The rapid run-up in the price of farmland appears to be over. We suspect that the slowdown in the growth rate of farmland prices last year will develop into an outright decline in prices this year, at... 7th April 2014 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Will the housing market force the MPC to act? Last week’s news that house prices surged in February will have done little to dispel concerns that record low interest rates are contributing to the emergence of a renewed house price bubble... 10th March 2014 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Teranet-National Bank House Prices (Jan.) January's pick-up in house price inflation isn't that surprising when you consider last year's home buying rush that was triggered by fears of rising mortgage rates. Now that home sales are dropping... 12th February 2014 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Fall in equity prices not enough to dent global growth The drop in global equity prices since the beginning of the year should have little effect on growth. It reverses only part of the increase in prices over the past two years. Moreover, the steepest... 10th February 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Further Nikkei outperformance likely The Nikkei rose by 60% in 2013, the largest increase in decades. A similarly stellar performance this year is obviously unlikely, but we still see room for further gains both in 2014 and 2015. While... 13th January 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Recovery entering a slower phase Japan’s economy likely continued to grow at a solid pace in the second quarter of the year, even though the recent wide divergence between various measures of consumer spending raises question marks... 6th August 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Focus Field of dreams: Is farmland the next bubble? There does appear to be a localised bubble in farmland values in the corn belt. Near-zero interest rates have undoubtedly played some role in this, but the bigger factor has been the surge in corn and... 10th June 2013 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Positive wealth effects from equity gains still limited The latest Flow of Funds report, published today by the Bank of Japan, confirms that the surge in equity prices on the back of the “Abe trade” has boosted the value of household assets, but also that... 25th March 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Rising wealth will continue to boost GDP Further increases in both house and equity prices would take net household wealth back above prerecession levels later this year, perhaps helping to boost GDP by around 0.7%. This wealth effect should... 7th February 2013 · 1 min read
UK Economics Chart Pack Jubilee boost short-lived Although consumer spending appears to have boosted at the start of June by the extended bank holiday, the fillip did not last for long and the underlying trend in spending still looks pretty mediocre... 19th July 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Price pressures have eased across the Middle East Inflation pressures are easing in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The drop in global commodity prices has led to a fall in food price inflation across the region. Meanwhile... 19th July 2012 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Households hit by further fall in incomes Today’s news on the state of households’ finances revealed that the continued drop in real income is taking its toll on consumer spending, as well as preventing households from taking the steps... 28th June 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Three challenges for 2011 Policymakers in the region will face three challenges this year: keeping inflation under control, preventing asset price bubbles from building and managing currency appreciation. All are consequences... 7th January 2011 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update What should we make of the BoJ's latest moves? Today’s announcements of a new asset purchase scheme by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and its symbolic lowering of the key policy rate are not game changers and the tepid market response is probably... 5th October 2010 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Hong Kong growth set to surprise on upside Hong Kong’s economy will significantly outpace most people’s expectations this year, but inflation is likely to remain very low. 18th February 2010 · 1 min read
