Europe Economics Weekly Stress tests are no silver bullet Attention last week centred again on the bank stress tests, which were due for publication on Friday. While the results were unavailable at the time of writing, it already seemed clear that they would... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly How severe is Korea’s slowdown likely to be? GDP growth in Korea probably slowed in Q2 and is likely to stay on a weaker track in coming quarters. The economic upswing should not come under serious threat, but exports and manufacturing growth... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Italy: the best of a bad bunch? The Q2 2010 RICS global commercial property survey points to a divergence in commercial property performance between Italy and the rest of the so-called “PIIGS”. That is consistent with our view that... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update The Philippines’ fiscal position is poor but not disastrous Bad news on the budget deficit has trickled through in recent weeks and there is scepticism about the Philippine government’s ability to limit the shortfall to its new (upwardly-revised) target for... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Bank stress tests leave unanswered questions The EU bank stress tests may have helped to reduce uncertainties around the health of Europe’s largest banks’ balance sheets. But concerns remain over the way the tests were constructed and we are... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update No quick fix for bank lending Today’s paper on financial regulation beefs up the Government’s plans to expand the Bank of England’s toolkit. But there are still big uncertainties about how this will operate in practice, while the... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea’s private sector takes the lead Korea’s GDP growth slowed in Q2 and is likely to stay on a weaker track in coming quarters. The recovery is unlikely to stall and we still expect the Bank of Korea (BoK) to lift its policy rate in... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand rates to rise this week but a pause is close Economic growth in New Zealand will probably fall short of what the Reserve Bank (RBNZ), and the consensus, currently expect. The cash rate is virtually certain to move up this week but the tightening... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Data Response External Trade (Jun.) The contribution of net trade to the quarterly increase in Japan’s GDP in Q2 was probably similar to the 0.7 percentage points in Q1, suggesting that overall growth was faster than generally... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Romania: IMF reforms to come at a cost In stark contrast to recent developments in Hungary, the fiscal cutbacks announced by the Romanian government have so far helped to keep its IMF-led loan deal alive. But these will come at a cost. We... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Chart Pack Twin-speed recovery taking shape (Jun 10) The recovery in manufacturing across Emerging Europe has for the most part been pretty impressive. With the notable exceptions of Romania and Bulgaria, industrial output is now growing at doubledigit... 26th July 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Venezuelan rift unlikely to derail the Colombian economy 23rd July 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Moscow office rents are more likely to stabilise than recover The increase in Moscow office rental values in Q2 is likely to prove a one-off. Although the occupier market has seen a continued improvement over the past few quarters, we think that the main driving... 23rd July 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Preliminary GDP (Q2) The UK economy grew significantly more quickly than expected in the second quarter of the year. But there are still good reasons to expect the recovery to be pretty lacklustre in the coming quarters. 23rd July 2010 · 1 min read
