Japanese GDP data slightly positive – but far too early to sound the all clear
May 20, 2015 07:20 am UTC| Commentary
For the first time since the VAT rise in April 2014 Japanese growth data surprised on the upside last night. With growth rates of +0.6% compared with the (actually very weak) final quarter of 2014 the Japanese economy is...
Correction of EUR-USD correction
May 20, 2015 07:14 am UTC| Commentary
In EUR-USD something seems akin to the correction of the correction which ended the downtrend in EUR-USD in mid-April. Yesterday EUR-USD eased from levels just above 1.1300 to below 1.1150. This was caused by ECB Executive...
Japan's economy likely to slow in Q2
May 20, 2015 06:53 am UTC| Commentary
The acceleration in GDP growth last quarter was mostly due to a jump in inventories, and a range of indicators point to a slowdown in the second quarter.GDP expanded by 0.6% q/q (2.5% annualised) last quarter, faster than...
FOMC minutes to underscore uncertainty about the outlook, exit tools
May 20, 2015 06:26 am UTC| Commentary
The main focus of the minutes will be on the economic assessment and outlook. The Committee significantly downgraded their assessment of current conditions in the April 29 FOMC statement, noting that the pace of job gains...
May 20, 2015 06:03 am UTC| Commentary
Todays main event is the publication of minutes from the FOMC-meeting on 28-29 April. In the statement from the meeting the Fed said that the slowdown in Q1 was partly transitory, so it will be interesting to see to what...
Poland's retail sales growth expected to be weaker
May 20, 2015 05:52 am UTC| Commentary
Polands retail sales growth likely to have decelerated to 1.8% in April from 3.0% in March but to have increased by 1.1% mom. Retail sales were mainly driven by sales of food products, pharmaceuticals, and clothing and...
Thailand's inflation expectations fall
May 20, 2015 05:49 am UTC| Commentary
As an inflation-targeting central bank, the BoT set a headline CPI inflation target of 2.5% +/- 1.5ppt from this year. Thai CPI inflation has averaged c.2.5% y/ysince 2000 and the +/-1.5ppt band is meant to address...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects