BCB is likely to announce another 50bp hike at Wed's COPOM meeting

Apr 27, 2015 18:19 pm UTC| Commentary

The last COPOM decision revealed a 50bp hike which followed the 125bp of hikes seen since the tightening cycle was restarted last October. Although this move was expected , in the run up to the 26th March release of the...

US Conference Board’s measure of consumer confidence likely strengthened in April

Apr 27, 2015 17:54 pm UTC| Commentary

Gasoline prices have stabilised and the stock market has not made much progress recently. But with real incomes buoyed by the low level of gas prices and jobless claims back at multi-decade lows we see few reasons for...

Japan retail sales values probably rose in March

Apr 27, 2015 17:43 pm UTC| Commentary

The pick-up in gasoline prices in recent weeks points to another rise in Japan retail sales values in March (00.50 BST). However, this wouldnt necessarily imply an increase in sales volumes. Capital Economics said - "Weve...

UK manufacturing sector’s poor Q1 performance does not herald the beginning of a prolonged period of weakness

Apr 27, 2015 17:32 pm UTC| Commentary

April and Q2s CBI Industrial Trends Survey (released on Monday) provided some reasons to be optimistic that the manufacturing sectors poor performance in Q1 does not herald the beginning of a prolonged period of...

UK’s economy probably grew less rapidly in Q1

Apr 27, 2015 17:23 pm UTC| Commentary

The first estimate of UK GDP (09.30 BST) seems likely to show that the recovery slowed in Q1 and may therefore put the coalition parties on the back foot just nine days before the general election. Granted, the business...

Spain sees stronger recovery short-term, but underlying fundamentals still weak

Apr 27, 2015 16:46 pm UTC| Commentary

After an already strong Q4, Spanish GDP growth in Q1 2015 proved stronger than previously anticipated (0.7% qoq vs. 0.5%), mostly resulting from better-than-expected investment (and to a lesser extent consumption) growth....

Gradual improvement in Mexico labour market continues

Apr 27, 2015 16:12 pm UTC| Commentary

Mexicos unemployment rate decreased to 4.2% in seasonally adjusted terms in March as the participation rate declined to 59.8% from 60.1% in the previous month. In annual comparison, the unemployment rate decreased to 3.9%...