UK Data Response MPC Minutes (Sep.) September’s MPC minutes did little to diminish the prospects of further policy stimulus over the coming months. We continue to expect further asset purchases to be announced at November’s meeting. 19th September 2012 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Central Bank of Nigeria still in wait and see mode The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) kept interest rates on hold at 12.00% today and is likely to stay in wait and see mode over the coming months as the effects of a spike in global food prices feed... 18th September 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Focus Is QE3 a success after all? The early evidence suggests that the Fed’s latest policy actions have already started to have their desired effect on financial markets. But there are large question marks over whether these moves... 18th September 2012 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey steps into easing mode, but impact likely to be limited Today’s cut in the Turkish overnight lending rate is partly cosmetic and the impact on domestic demand is likely to be limited. We wouldn’t rule out a few more steps to narrow the “interest rate... 18th September 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Will the ECB follow the Fed? With the launch of QE3, the Federal Reserve has clearly trumped the ECB’s conditional pledge to make sterilised bond purchases. Similar action is warranted in the euro-zone and technically feasible... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Aug. 12) The annual growth rates of the various broad money aggregates have slowed recently, but they will accelerate again as the Fed restarts its quantitative easing, this time purchasing $40bn of mortgage... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil "QE" debate masks deeper policy challenge Claims that large-scale foreign currency purchases have caused the Brazilian Central Bank to unwittingly engage in a form of quantitative easing are wide of the mark. But it does seem that during 2010... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Indian government bites the bullet on reforms Friday’s decision to liberalise foreign investment goes some way to dispel the impression of policy paralysis in Delhi. However, implementation of these reforms will be slow, and further measures are... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Are things better than four years ago? The fall in the real median household income to a 16-year low in 2011 means that many Americans are worse off now than they were when President Obama first took office. But the whole economy is... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Further glimmers of hope Last week’s developments bolstered hopes that the euro-zone has finally reached a “turning point”. Indeed, given the further falls in peripheral government bond yields, some optimists even questioned... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Three scenarios for Vietnam's crisis-hit economy High-profile arrests related to one of Vietnam’s biggest banks have brought problems in the country’s banking sector to the fore. This week’s lead article considers three scenarios for how Vietnam’s... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update How positive is QE3 for housing? Further MBS purchases by the Fed won’t engineer the same drop in mortgage interest rates that earlier rounds did, and with mortgage-dependent buyers playing a relatively marginal role in the housing... 14th September 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update What does QE3 mean for Latin America? It is not clear that the first two rounds of QE by the Fed provided much of a boost to financial markets in Latin America and we doubt that a third dose of the same medicine will be any different. So... 14th September 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Easing of global tensions to delay rate cuts in Chile With external risks receding, the likelihood of near-term Chilean rate cuts has fallen. Even so, we remain sceptical about the chances of a sustained recovery in global growth and are sticking to our... 14th September 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed launches open-ended QE3 The Fed today announced an open-ended QE3 focused on MBS purchases and extended its conditional commitment to leave its policy rate at near-zero through mid-2015. There were numerous other tweaks to... 14th September 2012 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Positive medium-term outlook despite risks The ongoing unrest in South Africa’s mining sector has led many to question the medium-term economic outlook for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but we still believe the region has huge growth potential. In... 13th September 2012 · 1 min read
