Japan Chart Pack Output and spending plummet The impact of the recent disaster has all but guaranteed that the economy will contract for a second successive quarter in Q1. Releases for March show plunging output, activity and spending, while... 28th April 2011 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How will the Syrian crisis affect the Middle East? The rapidly deteriorating political situation in Syria will undoubtedly worsen the economic conditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Admittedly, the country’s GDP amounted to less... 28th April 2011 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Bank of Japan's forecasts too sanguine The revised growth forecasts published today by the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board do not, in our opinion, adequately reflect the damage caused by the recent natural disaster. This is probably due to a... 28th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update RBNZ to resume tightening by year-end As expected, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) left its policy rate on hold at 2.5% today, after cutting by 50bp last month in response to the Christchurch earthquakes. Admittedly, the RBNZ will... 28th April 2011 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed in no hurry to tighten policy In his first post-FOMC meeting press conference, Chairman Ben Bernanke gave the impression that the Fed is in no hurry to tighten monetary policy. 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Rising inflation pushes 'currency wars' to the backburner The past month has brought further evidence of rising inflation in Latin America. For the most part, this is still being driven by higher food and energy prices, which in turn are a reflection of the... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Homeownership & Vacancy Rates (Q1) The further decline in the homeownership rate in the first quarter provides yet more evidence that Americans are now less able and less willing to buy a home. The flipside is that the resulting... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Tighter credit to weigh on the commercial property recovery Today’s ECB Bank Lending Survey makes disappointing reading for the commercial property market. The renewed tightening in credit conditions to both households and firms adds to the case for expecting... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Is the euro doomed to fail? The deepening problems in the euro-zone’s peripheral economies beg the question of whether the single currency union is doomed to fail. If failure means that it does not survive and prosper in its... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
US Data Response Durable Goods Orders (Mar.) Although March's data on durable goods orders show that industry is still by far the best performing part of the economy, business investment appears to have ground to a halt. This is one reason why... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Flash CPI (Apr.) April’s sharp rise in the German CPI inflation figures will do nothing to ease the ECB’s concerns over rising inflationary pressures. But the pick-up is not quite as alarming as it initially seems. 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
China Activity Monitor Growth stabilising The Capital Economics China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that economic growth is stabilising. Neither overheating nor a hard landing appears an imminent threat. 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Japan Data Response Retail Sales (Mar.) Japanese retail sales plunged in March as consumers reined in spending following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Despite a strong start to the quarter, sales fell at an annualised rate of 1.3%... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Chart Pack March's capital gain the strongest in nine months All-property rental values remained broadly stable in January, though again this owed much to rises in the City and West End office markets, which offset falls elsewhere. All-property initial yields... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Preliminary GDP (Q1) Q1’s GDP figures suggest that the recovery has completely ground to a halt since last autumn, with underlying activity pretty much stagnant for the past six months. The chances of an interest rate... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
