Japan Data Response Retail Sales, Unemployment, Household Spending & Consumer Prices (Feb.) While the labour market remains tight, inflation is moving further away from the Bank of Japan’s 2% target. We continue to expect the Bank to step up the pace of easing at the end of next month. 27th March 2015 · 1 min read
China Economics Focus Outlook for China has actually brightened The recent news on China's economy has been generally downbeat. But less attention has been paid to some encouraging structural shifts which mean that the risks of a slump in growth have diminished... 27th March 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Focus Is Mr Modi delivering on promises of reform? It has been nearly a year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP swept to victory in India's general election amid promises of wide-ranging reform to revamp the struggling economy. In this... 27th March 2015 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Bank of Canada in no hurry to cut rates The speech earlier today by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and his remarks during the press release shortly afterwards suggest that the Bank isn't in any hurry to cut rates further. Accordingly... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Currency sell-off puts paid to further policy loosening Currencies in Latin America have regained some ground over the past week, but have still typically fallen by between 10-20% against the dollar over the past six months. The risk that the slide in... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update The dollar and the US stock market – a historical perspective The performance of the US stock market has varied significantly during the four periods in which the dollar has strengthened considerably since it became a free-floating currency in the early 1970s... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
UK Economics Chart Pack Zero inflation boosts consumers’ spending power The trend in retail sales growth still looks healthy and there are reasons to be optimistic that consumer spending will remain strong. Most importantly, inflation has fallen sharply and is now on the... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Energy Update Fallout from Yemen The recent developments in Yemen have caused oil prices to jump on fears of disruption to supplies. However we think that the impact on production should be minimal and even in the unlikely event of... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Tighter market to push coffee prices higher Despite the weak Brazilian real putting downward pressure on the price of arabica coffee, with the market tightening we think that the price will move higher. 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Bucharest industrial capital values set for strong growth A more balanced economy and improvements in public institutions have reduced the risk of investing in Romania. And, given that industrial yields remain close to 10% despite strong levels of activity... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Kganyago paves way for South Africa rate hike Policymakers in South Africa kept interest rates on hold today, but the governor’s statement took a notably more hawkish tone that seemingly paved the way for rate hikes at the next meeting in May. It... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Czech MPC keeps policy unchanged, but hints at loosening Having kept its two-week repo rate unchanged at 0.05% and maintained its exchange rate ceiling of 27/€ earlier today, the Czech MPC’s accompanying statement struck a markedly dovish note. As a result... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
US Employment Report Preview Decline in mining employment will be relatively modest Our econometric model suggests that non-farm payrolls increased by 240,000 in March. We anticipate that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5%. 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update First thoughts on the escalating conflict in Yemen The unfolding crisis in Yemen and the commencement of air strikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies on the Houthi rebels has raised concerns of a broader regional conflict. We suspect that the worst of... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Investors regain their appetite for EM assets In February, there was a net flow into global ETF and mutual funds that invest in emerging markets for the month since September. In particular, funds dedicated to investing in equities in Emerging... 26th March 2015 · 1 min read
