Asia Economics Weekly What will Thailand do about the “strong” baht? The Thai authorities are becoming increasingly concerned by the strength of the baht, which has been one of the best performing emerging market currencies over the past year. The most likely policy... 26th January 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update BCRA shift puts Argentine peso under pressure It’s been a good start to 2018 for Latin America’s financial markets, with equities outperforming those in developed markets, currencies posting strong gains against the dollar, and bond spreads... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
China Activity Monitor Growth stabilises at the end of 2017 Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that economic conditions stabilised at the end of last year after a fairly sharp slowdown since the middle of 2017. Growth may pick up slightly in the near term... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
UK Data Response CBI Distributive Trades Survey (Jan.) All the main balances of the CBI’s Distributive Trades Survey fell back in January. Nonetheless, the survey’s past relationship with the official figures continues to point to solid retail sales... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Jan.) January’s rise in German Ifo business sentiment is another sign that the economy is going great guns, but with the euro so strong the ECB seems unlikely to give a firm end date for its asset purchases... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Data Response Sweden Econ. Tend. Survey (Jan.) & Unemploy. (Dec.) The Economic Tendency Survey suggests that the Swedish economy lost some momentum at the start of 2018. But this is unlikely to prevent the Riksbank from tightening policy later this year. 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Angola: Prepare for turbulence Since his election late last year, President João Lourenço has embarked on a surprisingly bold programme of economic reforms. In this Watch we argue that President Lourenço’s reform plans will help to... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia: more rate hikes unlikely Malaysia’s central bank (BNM) raised its key policy rate by 25bps to 3.25% today, but with growth set to slow, inflation benign and the currency continuing to strengthen, we suspect this will be a... 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Korea GDP (Q4) While Korea’s economy cooled at the end of 2017, we expect growth to regain some momentum in the coming quarters, supported by a turnaround in the tourism sector. 25th January 2018 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Will stockbuilding weigh on growth again this year? Stockbuilding probably knocked about 0.2pp off GDP growth last year. But there are a number of reasons to think that won’t be repeated, leaving us happy with our above-consensus forecast for GDP... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Flash PMIs (Jan.) The preliminary business surveys for January, published by Markit today, suggest that economic growth in advanced economies may have gained even more momentum at the beginning of the year. 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Labour Market (Nov/Dec.) The latest labour market figures provided further reassurance that the economy held up in the fourth quarter of last year. With survey indicators suggesting that jobs and wage growth should continue... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (Jan.) January’s jump in the euro-zone Composite PMI marked an exceptionally strong start to 2018. But while the data appear to strengthen the case for the ECB to “revisit” its forward guidance early this... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Trade tensions simmer as China-US surplus widens China’s bilateral trade surplus with the US rose in 2017 to a record high of US$275bn according to Chinese data. President Trump, according to the White House, stressed his “disappointment” with this... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack 2017 ends with a bang The flow of economic data released in Australia and New Zealand in recent weeks has been encouraging and suggests that after slowing in the third quarter of 2017, both economies regained some momentum... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Japan Data Response Flash Manufacturing PMI (Jan.) The manufacturing PMI climbed to a four-year high in January and suggests that the economic expansion remained vigorous at the start of this year. 24th January 2018 · 1 min read