Commodities Chart Pack Investors glad to put 2013 behind them The end of 2013 marked another year of dismal returns for commodity investors. The prospects for supply have been the key driver of most commodity prices, especially for agriculturals. The main... 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Fallout from Egypt’s “second revolution” not as bad as feared Recently released third quarter GDP data show that the impact on Egypt's economy from July's "second revolution" was not as bad as some, ourselves included, had expected. Elsewhere, Qatar remains the... 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Halifax House Prices (Dec.13) Halifax report that after rising for every month of the year since February, house prices unexpectedly dipped during December. A further rise in prices in 2014 is likely, but an increase in the number... 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thailand’s political crisis poses growing threat to economy Thailand’s political crisis is showing no sign of nearing an end. A prolonged impasse could disrupt the roll-out of the government’s key public infrastructure projects, and cause further damage to the... 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Can we get much higher? The Japanese economy is entering 2014 on a strong footing. Retail sales are at their highest level since the late 1990s, business surveys and the Nikkei have climbed to multi-year highs, and... 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
Capital Daily China likely to continue with large-scale currency intervention 8th January 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Trade Monitor "Fragile five" trade balances improving EM export growth continued to gather pace in November and forward-looking indicators suggest that the recovery has further to run. There are signs that the trade balances of the “fragile five” EMs... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response International Merchandise Trade (Nov.) November's flat export and import trade figures suggest that the economy lost some momentum mid-way through the fourth quarter of last year. Given the fairly strong start to that quarter, however, we... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
US Data Response International Trade (Nov.) The trade deficit unexpectedly shrank to a four-year low of $34.3bn in November, from $39.3bn, suggesting that fourth-quarter GDP growth could turn out to be above 3.0% annualised. 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Venezuela: Devaluation through the back door The Venezuelan government’s re-introduction of SICAD foreign exchange auctions amounts to yet another devaluation of the bolivar. But with the authorities unlikely to present a lasting solution to the... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response CoreLogic House Prices (Nov.13) It’s too early to tell if the marginal dip in the annual pace of house price inflation in November marks the start of the slowdown in price gains that we are expecting. But we are confident that... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
UK Economics Chart Pack Falling unemployment unlikely to prompt rate hike While unemployment is falling swiftly towards the 7% threshold above which the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has pledged to keep official interest rates on hold, it remains unlikely that rates will... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Inflation Monitor (Jan.) Inflation appears to have finished 2013 on a subdued note. Policymakers’ latest moves to tighten the regulation of shadow banking along with other measures intended to rein in credit growth should... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash CPI (Dec.), PPI (Nov.) & Ger. Unemp. (Dec.) December's fall in euro-zone CPI inflation will add to concerns that the region could suffer from a bout of deflation and increase the pressure on the ECB to take more action to support the economy. 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Update What are the Lloyds surveys telling us about property prospects? The short history of the Lloyds commercial property confidence survey tends to limit its usefulness as a guide for the physical market. Even so, the latest results were positive and, combined with... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Next move in Spanish office vacancy rates likely to be downwards Signs that Spain's labour market has now turned a corner, both nationally and in its two largest cities, are clearly good news for office occupier markets. Falls in unemployment over the past year... 7th January 2014 · 1 min read
