China Data Response Trade (Jul.) Chinese trade softened at the start of Q3, with a slowdown in commodity imports suggesting that policy tightening may be weighing on investment spending. 8th August 2017 · 1 min read
US Data Response Employment Report (Jul.) & International Trade (Jun.) The 209,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in July, together with the drop back in the unemployment rate to a joint 16-year low, suggests the Fed will still need to raise rates again this year, even if... 4th August 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Is an early lift-off from the MPC now off the cards? The surprisingly-dovish reaction of sterling to the Bank of England’s August Inflation Report has led some commentators to conclude that the prospect of an interest rate hike this year is now dead and... 4th August 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response International Trade (Jun.) The fall in the trade surplus from a record high of $4.6bn in December to just $0.9bn in June is not a disaster as a lot of it is due to lower prices rather than lower export volumes. But the recent... 3rd August 2017 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update What would an escalation of US sanctions mean for Venezuela? The decision by the US Treasury to sanction Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro was on the more benign end of the spectrum of options reportedly under consideration and is unlikely to have much... 2nd August 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Focus ASEAN: still searching for purpose at 50 As ASEAN approaches its 50th anniversary, we see little prospect of it transforming itself into the kind of single market and production base which its supporters hope will one day enable it to rival... 31st July 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Jobs growth switches from soft to soaring After a soft patch at the beginning of this year, jobs growth has soared in Australia in recent months. What’s more, of the net new 154,000 jobs that have been created since March all of them have... 31st July 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Transitional agreement increasingly likely The view on both sides of the channel seems to be that agreeing the terms of the UK’s withdrawal will take longer than initially hoped. As a result, a transitional deal allowing freedom of movement... 28th July 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Election won’t solve Malaysia’s institutional problems There is growing speculation that Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, will take advantage of the recent strength of the economy by calling an early general election. The weak state of the... 28th July 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Morocco’s wider current account deficit not a cause for alarm A large chunk of the recent widening of Morocco’s current account deficit to around 5% of the GDP can be explained by a one-off jumps in import, mainly related to the expansion of capacity in the... 28th July 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Taiwan GDP (Q2 Advanced) Taiwan’s economy slowed in Q2 but with global demand set to remain healthy and policy supportive, we expect growth to rebound in the second half of the year. 28th July 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Is inflation really just 1.9%? Most people are right to believe that their inflation rate is not 1.9% as the official ABS data show. As different people spend different shares of their income on different items than the ABS assumes... 28th July 2017 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Major economies rebound, policy easing gains pace The latest data support our view that the recoveries in Sub-Saharan Africa’s big three economies will be stronger than most expect. Activity data in Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola all suggest that... 27th July 2017 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Regional inflation hits seven-year low Inflation has continued to fall across Latin America – our measure of regional inflation (excluding Argentina and Venezuela) dropped below 4% y/y for the first time since 2010 last month. This is due... 26th July 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Chart Pack Central Europe: inflation eases, but not for long The scale of the decline in inflation in Central Europe over the past month has taken many by surprise and reinforced expectations in the financial markets that monetary policy will remain very loose... 26th July 2017 · 1 min read
Global Trade Monitor World trade rebound in May bodes well for Q2 The latest CPB data add to evidence that April’s large drop in global trade volumes was a one-off – not the start of a marked downturn. Indeed, the signs are that world trade expanded fairly strongly... 25th July 2017 · 1 min read
