Europe Economics Update Euro-zone Monetary Indicators Monitor (Dec. 12) The latest euro-zone monetary data have brought further signs of an improvement in financial market conditions. However, lending to firms and households has continued to fall and seems unlikely to... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Chart Pack Office investment demand remains robust On Property Archive data, the value of investment market activity in December rose to £3.1bn, up by £0.2bn from November. Investment in offices accounted for nearly half of this total, and the office... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Will a new Governor deliver real change? Despite the headlines, the policy overhaul and additional asset purchases announced by the Bank of Japan last week were timid rather than “bold”. That was the initial reaction in the financial markets... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Economic slack likely to persist The Bank of Canada and International Monetary Fund still expect economic growth in Canada to accelerate through the course of this year. Admittedly, net exports are unlikely to remain a drag on GDP... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Republicans picking their battles The Republicans opted to raise the debt ceiling temporarily because they believed it was politically expedient to link their demands for spending cuts to one of the many other potential budget... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Crunch time for the Government With the Europe issue now kicked into the long grass of the next Parliament, politicians can hopefully get back to addressing the bigger issues affecting the economy at the moment. After all, EU... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Currency concerns likely to deepen The ECB’s apparent refusal to engage in the recent outbreak of covert currency wars amongst global policymakers is partly understandable. After all, the single currency’s recent rise has been at least... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Peso strength and rupiah weakness to continue Despite a similarly strong economic performance last year, the currencies of Indonesia and the Philippines have gone in opposite directions, with the peso significantly outperforming the rupiah. In... 28th January 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Consumer Price Index (Dec.) The surprising drop in December's official core inflation rate to 1.1%, from 1.2% in November, suggests that there is much more slack in the economy than most economists previously thought. With sub... 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Jan.) January’s increase in the German Ifo business climate index provides further hope that the economy will fare better in Q1 than Q4. 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Dec. 12) It’s a disappointment that the level of new home sales in December was no higher than it was seven months earlier in May. But December’s new home sales report isn’t as bad as it first appears. 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russia: a disappointing end to 2012 While most emerging markets staged a recovery in the final months of 2012, Russia appears to have bucked the trend. The latest raft of activity data suggests that growth weakened to just 2% y/y in Q4... 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
Commodities Focus "A year of two halves" The prices of industrial metals are likely to remain firm in the first half of the year, although we do not expect large gains. In the second half, most prices should drop back as the global economic... 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Argentina Activity Indicator (Dec.) The Capital Economics Argentina Activity Indicator shows that Argentina’s economy continued to recover in the final quarter of 2012. Even so, we estimate that GDP growth was close to zero for the year... 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Provisional GDP (Q4) The UK economy is contracting again. Although Q4’s drop in GDP was partly down to temporary factors, another contraction in Q1 is quite possible, meaning that the UK may now be in a “triple dip”. And... 25th January 2013 · 1 min read
