Japan Data Response Spending, Unemployment & Ind. Production (Feb.) Today’s data on household spending suggest that the recovery in consumption may have faltered in the first quarter. Nonetheless, other evidence from the consumer sector is reassuring and we do not... 30th March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Mr Darling leaves lots of holes Mr Darling’s Budget may have provided £100m to repair potholes in the roads, but it left plenty of gaping holes in the fiscal arithmetic. Most obviously, the projected fall in the budget deficit... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update PAC II unlikely to fully address Brazil’s investment needs 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Hungary & Romania still playing catch-up The fact that policymakers in both Hungary and Romania are still cutting interest rates when their counterparts elsewhere in the world have begun to withdraw stimulus measures reflects the depth of... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Update Further support for a more optimistic office rental outlook The tone of today’s CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey was generally subdued, although an improvement in expectations about future business volumes points to a continued slowdown in the rate of decline... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Chart Pack Too soon to dismiss fiscal risks (Mar 10) Financial markets in Emerging Europe have, for the most part, brushed off sovereign debt concerns in the euro-zone’s periphery. While bond markets sold off earlier this year as the crisis in Greece... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone EC Survey & German CPI (Mar.) March’s EC business and consumer survey provides some encouragement that, for now, fiscal worries in the region are not weighing too heavily on overall sentiment towards the economy. But the surveys... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Mar.) More than a year after the Bank of England began its quantitative easing programme, broad money and bank lending are still struggling to rise. The latest worrying development is a renewed drop in net... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Mortgage Lending (Feb.) Although, perhaps, still artificially weak following the poor weather and the end of the previous stamp duty holiday, today’s mortgage lending data do not inspire confidence that last year’s housing... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Mortgage Lending (Feb.) Surveys of house price expectations, although weakening, are yet to signal the renewed falls that we are forecasting for the second half of this year. However, their record in anticipating price... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Brazil continues to lead the way Brazil’s recovery continues to impress. GDP expanded by 2.0% q/q in the final quarter of last year and all the signs are that growth has remained strong in recent months. That said, concerns are... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Risks to JGB yields shifting to the upside We are raising our forecasts for 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yields to a peak of 1.75% later this year (from around 1.40% on Friday). This may not sound like much, but in the context of... 29th March 2010 · 1 min read
