EUR showing signs of recovery after worst quarter on record
Apr 01, 2015 14:27 pm UTC| Commentary
The euro followed up its worst quarter on record with a tiny gain, helped by more signs of recovery taking hold in the 19-country bloc. Western Union research notes: Growth in the euro zones manufacturing sector proved...
Low growth and high fiscal deficit to weigh heavily on public debt in Brazil
Apr 01, 2015 13:16 pm UTC| Commentary
Net and gross public debt rose from 33.6% and 56.7% of GDP respectively in December 2013 to 36.8% and 63.5% in December 2014. While net public debt declined moderately through February to 36.3%, gross public debt...
Japan's business conditions for manufacturers remained unchanged in Q1
Apr 01, 2015 07:51 am UTC| Commentary
Japans current business condition diffusion index (DI) for large manufacturers remained unchanged at +12 (consensus was +14) in Q1. After a strong business condition DI in Q1 2014 (+17) when last-minute demand ahead of the...
China's official manufacturing PMI improves slightly
Apr 01, 2015 07:38 am UTC| Commentary
Chinas official manufacturing PMI published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in March improved slightly to 50.1 (Consensus: 49.7, DBM 49.5) from 49.9 in February. The HSBC/Markit manufacturing PMI in its final...
China official manufacturing PMI up at 50.1 in March
Apr 01, 2015 06:49 am UTC| Commentary
In emerging markets, the renewed hopes of PBoC easing is fuelling a rally in the Chinese stocks. The Shanghai composite index is already up 17.5% YTD and data earlier today showing that the official manufacturing PMI...
Indonesia's budget deficit to surprise on the downside
Apr 01, 2015 06:09 am UTC| Commentary
Indonesias budget deficit is not expected to touch the 3% of GDP. The provisional fiscal deficit for 2014 printed at 2.2% of GDP, lower than our forecast of 2.5%.Given that there was a significant underperformance on the...
Australia's import strength to boost trade deficit again
Apr 01, 2015 05:53 am UTC| Commentary
There is nothing wrong with the momentum in Australias exports - with 3m-o-3m growth of 2.2% up to January (9% annualized) - especially considering the persistent weakness of commodity and hence export prices; but owing to...
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