Commodities Update What's behind the rebound in China's copper imports? The recent pick-up in Chinese imports of refined copper has been interpreted as a sign that underlying demand is rebounding in the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals. However, a closer look... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt election concerns add to already high financing risks The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) dithering over securing external financial assistance has left Egypt teetering on the edge of a full-blown economic crisis. The central bank’s... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Saudi Arabia Consumer Prices (Oct.) Inflation in Saudi Arabia edged down slightly last month as a sharp drop in food inflation offset a rise in domestic goods and services inflation. 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Policy starts to turn Policymakers started talking in late October of the need for “fine-tuning”. There is now mounting evidence that policy has begun to shift direction. The People’s Bank lowered the yield on one-year... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Recent free-trade initiatives are over-hyped The goal of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of establishing a fully-integrated economic community by 2015, with complete free flow of goods, services and investment, is likely to... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Business confidence key to investment outlook After expanding very strongly in the first half of this year, we now estimate that business investment grew at a tepid pace in the third quarter. Nevertheless, there are good reasons to expect... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Another blow for the auto industry Temporary factors are likely to cause output in the auto sector to fall in the coming months. The period of restocking that has supported production appears to have largely run its course, both at... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Break-up fears pile pressure on the core There are still few signs that euro-zone policymakers are close to placing a firewall around the region’s most troubled economies. This, combined with the deteriorating economic outlook, led some of... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Few market consequences if the super committee fails Even if the super committee fails to recommend ways to reduce the budget deficit by Wednesday's deadline, as there will be no government shutdown, no debt default and no credit rating downgrade, we... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Is the euro-zone really to blame? The Government was lambasted last week for blaming the UK’s poor economic performance on events in the euro-zone. While the Government might have jumped the gun a bit, it won’t be long before the... 21st November 2011 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Consumer Price Index (Oct.) Although the official measure of core inflation, which dipped from 2.2% to 2.1% in October, might stay slightly above the Bank of Canada's target of 2% in the near term, this is not a big concern... 18th November 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Chilean GDP growth to slow as global headwinds build The fact that growth accelerated in Venezuela in Q3 but slowed in Chile paints a false picture of the relative strengths of each economy. Both are vulnerable to the drop in commodity prices that we... 18th November 2011 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Hungary: IMF fiasco highlights concerns over policy predictability It appears that Hungary’s efforts to re-engage with the IMF have run into trouble sooner than even we had anticipated. While much still remains uncertain, the government’s decision to announce it was... 18th November 2011 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update How significant are City jobs for London's housing market? Popular perception dictates that City jobs are a crucial driver of London’s housing market. Yet there have been at least two previous occasions when significant City redundancies did not trigger house... 18th November 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economic Outlook Weaker growth to be met with policy stimulus A combination of weak growth and deepening debt crises in the G7 and softer demand from China means that the economies of Latin America are likely to slow by more than most expect over the next few... 18th November 2011 · 1 min read
