China Economics Update The NPC: Taking away the punch bowl The reports delivered at today’s opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) confirm that with the COVID-19 downturn now in the rear-view mirror the focus of China’s leadership has shifted away... 5th March 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly RBA taking higher bond yields in its stride The Reserve Bank of Australia’s half-hearted response to the surge in government bond yields underlines that it is not overly worried about the impact of higher borrowing costs on the economy. But... 5th March 2021 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Update Bank Negara Malaysia set to remain on hold Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) left its main policy rate on hold at 1.75% today, and we have taken out the cut we had pencilled in for this year. However, with the economic recovery likely to be slow... 4th March 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka: monetary easing will depend on currency The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) left policy on hold today amid continued volatility in global financial markets. Given the poor outlook for the economy, the CBSL will want to resume its easing... 4th March 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update NBP extends pause, policy to stay loose for some time The Polish central bank’s latest forecasts, published this afternoon, tell a story in which the economic recovery will strengthen over the coming years and inflationary pressures will pick up strongly... 3rd March 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Data Response Turkey Consumer Prices (Feb.) The stronger-than-expected rise in Turkey’s headline inflation rate, to 15.6% y/y in February, is likely to mark the peak and we expect inflation to fall steadily over the next six months or so. But... 3rd March 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update Planning to do it alone The 14 th Five-Year Plan should provide a revealing view of the key challenges that China’s leadership believes it faces. High among them is a more hostile global environment. In the economic sphere... 3rd March 2021 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA to expand QE again in June The Reserve Bank of Australia today doubled down on its commitment to keep monetary policy settings loose and we reiterate our view that it will expand its bond purchase program by another $100bn in... 2nd March 2021 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Wage growth near its trough Labour markets in both countries have tightened in recent months. In Australia, the unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 7.1% to just 6.4% in January. And other measures of spare capacity have... 1st March 2021 · 11 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Markets reading the roadmap to higher interest rates wrong The surge in 10-year gilt yields to a one-year high of more than 0.80% this week has been driven by the markets’ expectations that the economic recovery will prompt the Bank of England to raise... 26th February 2021 · 4 mins read
Japan Economics Weekly Bank of Japan likely to cap bond yields before long The global surge in long-term interest rates means that 10-year JGB yields are now the highest they have been since the launch of negative rates in 2016. While we expect the Bank of Japan to widen the... 26th February 2021 · 5 mins read
India Economics Weekly Does the inflation target need an overhaul? The debate over the RBI's 4% headline inflation target - which runs until next month and is currently being reviewed - has heated up this week. Some prominent government officials have suggested that... 26th February 2021 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBNZ’s housing focus could bring forward rate hikes We doubt that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s new obligation to consider house prices will drastically change the outlook for monetary policy. But given that house price growth remains very strong... 26th February 2021 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Mixed outlook for bond yields Bond yields surged to a two-year high this week. While we agree with market expectations that the RBNZ will hike interest rates to 1% by 2023, we think that markets have gone too far in pricing in... 26th February 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Update Bank of Korea set for extended hold The Bank of Korea (BoK) left its main policy rate on hold at 0.50% today in a unanimous decision, and while further rate cuts are now very unlikely, we expect more intervention in the government bond... 25th February 2021 · 3 mins read
Canada Economics Update Markets jumping the gun on Bank of Canada rate hikes We think market participants are getting ahead of themselves by pricing in an interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada in 2022, particularly as Governor Tiff Macklem again signalled yesterday that... 24th February 2021 · 3 mins read
