EM Asia: Central banks await FOMC

Dec 15, 2015 00:15 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

The Bank of Korea held the policy rate unchanged as expected. It is believed that its neutral tone was deliberate to mitigate potential volatility arising from the expected Fed rate hike next week. It is believed that the...

Brazil: From bad to worse

Dec 14, 2015 23:48 pm UTC| Commentary Politics

The news flow in Brazil continues to worsen. November inflation surprised to the upside, mainly because of food prices. On the political front, the impeachment process has slowed down, with the Supreme Court deciding to...

Canadian wealth leaning on real estate

Dec 14, 2015 23:35 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

The plunge in oil prices has weighed on Canadian overall national net worth (assets less liabilities), which fell 1.3%, or $129.4 billion - mostly due to a massive $285 billion decline in natural resource wealth. The...

Fed to deliver a 25bps hike in the policy rate

Dec 14, 2015 22:30 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks

Fed is expected to deliver a 25bps hike in the policy rate, raising the target range to 0.25% to 0.50%. The market is fairly priced for this outcome, so the focus will be on the tone of the Feds message. The consensus...

US housing starts to rebound to 1.125m annualized in November

Dec 14, 2015 22:09 pm UTC| Commentary

US housing starts could well rebound to 1.125m annualized in November, and expecting that strong underlying levels of building permits will continue to fuel construction, while better-than-normal weather this November...

Canadian manufacturing sales to show yet another leg down, with a decline of 0.6% m/m

Dec 14, 2015 21:52 pm UTC| Commentary

Following on the heels of a significant drop in Septembers manufacturing sales (-1.5% m/m), October is expected to show yet another leg down, with a decline of 0.6% m/m. This would leave manufacturing sales firmly...

US headline CPI to come in at 0% m/m

Dec 14, 2015 21:37 pm UTC| Commentary

US inflation numbers should come in at 0% m/m in terms of headline CPI and +0.2% m/m on core for November. Headline CPI is expected to be weighed down by a mix of the drop in gasoline pump prices in the US (-5.4% m/m on...