Commodities Update Can seasonal demand alone rescue the price of gold? This is the time of the year when the price of gold is traditionally assumed to be boosted by a seasonal pick-up in demand. There does indeed appear to be a seasonal pattern in the gold price but, as... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russian economy continues to struggle The weakness of August’s activity data for Russia is partly due to working day effects since August of this year had one fewer working day than August of 2012. Even so, today’s data reinforce our view... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Venezuela: New foreign exchange mechanism, old problems The Venezuelan government is expected to launch a new foreign exchange mechanism over the coming days, but past form suggests that it is unlikely to ease the shortages of foreign currency that have... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Gulf economies gathering pace Growth in the Gulf States appears to have accelerated in recent months. Oil production has surged in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, at least in part as a response to supply disruptions in Libya. And in the... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Are European equities really undervalued? Strong investor flows into European equities since the start of the year have partly been driven by a perception that valuations are favourable. But while the headline metrics suggest that European... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack State sector leads a rebound August’s data confirmed that the economy has turned a corner. Industrial output growth was the strongest since spring last year. Investment and exports also gathered pace. It is notable though that... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Housing Starts (Aug. 13) The small rise in starts in August, which was below expectations and would have been a fall were it not for downward revisions to earlier data, is not as disappointing as it first appears. The figures... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Ghana: twin deficits to keep monetary policy tight A failure to sufficiently rein in large budget and current account deficits means that further monetary tightening is still likely in Ghana, despite the Central Bank’s decision to keep interest rates... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Fed tapering and Latin America: a recap All eyes will be firmly fixed on today’s US FOMC meeting in anticipation of the announcement that the Fed will begin scaling back its programme of asset purchases under QE3. But for the economies of... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
DM Valuations Monitor Portuguese government bonds come under fire The yield spread of 10-year government bonds in Portugal over German Bunds has increased by about 70bp since this time last month, in stark contrast to a small decrease in the yield spread of 10-year... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Have house prices returned to pre-crisis highs? The ONS house price index, which shows that prices in England have returned to pre-crisis highs, has made plenty of headlines today. But compared to other indices, the ONS measure places greater... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Fed tapering could test the ECB's resolve We don’t expect the announcement of Fed tapering to have an immediately adverse effect on the euro-zone’s financial markets and economy. But a new phase in which other central banks are starting to... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
UK Data Response MPC minutes (Sep.) September’s MPC minutes suggest that, despite the arguably disappointing impact of forward guidance, the Committee is happy with its policy stance. A resumption of quantitative easing (QE) before the... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Commodities Update If the oil market is well supplied, what's keeping prices high? In contrast to OPEC, we think that supply outages from Libya and other producers, as well as wider geopolitical tensions, are playing a key role in keeping oil prices high. 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Cross-border lending exposes Japanese banks to new risks Japan has regained its position as the world's largest international lender. This partly reflects the relative stability of the country's banking sector in recent years. But it is also the result of a... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Workforce to receive boost from Romanians and Bulgarians Relatively strong growth in the workforce is one factor that should prevent the unemployment rate from falling quickly towards the Bank of England’s 7% threshold. An influx of workers from Romania and... 18th September 2013 · 1 min read
