US non-farm payrolls likely grew in February, consistent with healthy labor market improvement

Mar 04, 2016 07:13 am UTC| Commentary

US jobs report for February is likely to indicate that the economy continues to weather headwinds from the financial market volatility and slow global growth that dominated the start of 2016. However, the threats are...

Negative Rates Series

Negative rates series: Kuroda fumbles as expected

Mar 04, 2016 07:00 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

Just in our previous article under the series, we argued from now on central bankers around the world after embracing negative rates, will act cautiously before dragging it down further. Today Bank of Japan (BOJ) chief...

Headwinds to US service sector activity likely to be easing

Mar 04, 2016 06:39 am UTC| Commentary

In February, the US Institute for Supply Managements (ISM) non-manufacturing index was almost unchanged. It dropped slightly by 0.1 points to 53.4, better than consensus expectation of a drop to 53.1. There were mixed...

Briferendum Series

Briferendum series: how are polls looking?

Mar 04, 2016 06:16 am UTC| Commentary

In the past two mega events, Scottish referendum and UK election polls have failed to paint closer to accurate picture in UK, but we have little option but to look at the polls again to gauge the mood of people surrounding...

Mexico’s inflation likely to be stable in 2016, but economic growth still faces headwinds

Mar 04, 2016 05:50 am UTC| Commentary

The Bank of Mexico has confirmed that its recent rise in the interest rate was a one-off move and of a pre-emptive nature. The central bank, in its Q4 2015 inflation report has adjusted the 2016 GDP forecast to 2.0-3.0%...

Australia’s January retail sales data shows slow start to 2016 for consumer spending

Mar 04, 2016 05:15 am UTC| Commentary

Australias retail sales grew in January by 0.3% from a flat result posted in December. However, it is a weak rise and lower than the consensus expectation of 0.4% growth. On a year-on-year basis, sales grew 4%, but tracked...

Guide to today’s important data and events

Mar 04, 2016 05:08 am UTC| Commentary

Not many economic dockets scheduled for today, focus is on NFP report from US. Data released so far Japan - Labour cash earnings rose by 0.4% in January, from a year ago. Australia - Retail sales rose by 0.3%...