Japan Economics Weekly Resilience of bank profits is bad news for BoJ The conventional wisdom is that the collapse in bond yields since the launch of QQE is undermining bank profits. In reality, though they reached a fresh high last year. Unfortunately this is bad news... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
Frontier Markets Wrap Frontier financial markets recover some ground A combination of improving investor sentiment and a pick-up in global commodity prices has underpinned a recovery in frontier financial markets in recent weeks. Since reaching a two-year low in early... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Chart Pack Rental growth picks up, but investment slumps The economic indicators provided mixed messages this month. On the one hand, job creation is still healthy, inflation is low, nominal wage growth edged up and retail sales strengthened. Sentiment... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Vietnam: Short-term prospects good, but risks building Vietnam has been one of the region’s fastest growing economies over the past couple of years, and looks set for another year of strong growth in 2016. But risks are starting to build, and policymakers... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Recent resurgence in housing won’t last The resurgence in Australia’s housing market at the start of this year is already looking a bit tired. The delayed impact on activity from last year’s rises in mortgage rates, the recent deterioration... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
Energy Data Response US Weekly Petroleum Status Report US crude oil inventories hit a new record for the sixth consecutive time last week as a surge in imports filled storage tanks. On the other hand, gasoline stocks fell sharply and US crude oil... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Bubble trouble? Loose monetary policy increases the appeal of “risky” assets. This is a positive thing when their valuations are low, as they were in the aftermath of the financial crisis. It is, however, a... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update What hasn’t Mr Osborne ruled out cutting? By promising no further welfare cuts, the Government has ruled out yet another way of raising some money should it need to. This suggests that the Conservatives will struggle to meet their strict... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Key commodity prices set for further gains Followers of our relatively upbeat research since January may not be surprised to hear that we expect many commodity prices to rally further. (See our quarterly Commodities Analyst, “Oil to lead a... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Is the euro-zone almost free from austerity? The shift away from growth-sapping austerity in the euro-zone is encouraging. But while fiscal policy may no longer be a drag on economic growth, the planned loosening is unlikely to provide a... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Will online sales growth keep slowing? Online sales growth – while still very strong – has been slowing over recent years. However, we think the big slowdown in growth should be behind us, with innovations in mobile technology and internet... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Further ECB stimuli will keep euro-zone property values rising Despite the ECB’s recent monetary loosening, we expect further stimulus measures will be required to reinvigorate growth and push inflation back towards its target. This will prove to be a net... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Chart Pack Making a good start to the year Data released over the past month have provided further evidence that regional growth strengthened at the start to the year. Admittedly, the region’s largest economy, Russia, remains in recession. But... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Africa Economics Update Nigerian officials unexpectedly abandoned two key economic policies yesterday by tightening monetary policy and re-instating a partial ban on rice imports. The immediate economic effects will be mixed... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
Latin America Data Response Brazil IPCA-15 (Mar.) The larger-than-expected fall in Brazilian inflation in the first half of this month, to 10.0% y/y from 10.4% y/y over February as a whole, is encouraging. We expect inflation to continue to fall back... 23rd March 2016 · 1 min read
