Fundamental drivers for USD strength remain place
Apr 01, 2015 05:01 am UTC| Commentary
The drivers of USD strength remain (1) macroeconomic divergence, (2) the prospect of Fed hikes when others are easing, and (3) interest-rate differentials moving in favour of the US.In addition, the currency wars - which...
Korea Inflation bottoms out as oil drag fades
Apr 01, 2015 04:51 am UTC| Commentary
Koreas Inflation edged down to 0.4% y/y in March (February: 0.5%; January: 0.8%). The softness was still centred on oil prices as the initial pass-through from lower fuel prices broadened out to other energy...
Investors in Mexico are cautiously optimistic
Apr 01, 2015 00:20 am UTC| Commentary
According to Nick Verdi from Standard Chartered, Mexican investors are moderately positive on the domestic economy and the MXN outlook Investors expect a pick-up in US growth to benefit Mexico; USD-MXN seen at 15.00-15.25...
Canadian economy enters 2015 on soft footing
Mar 31, 2015 18:36 pm UTC| Commentary
The Canadian economy contracted by 0.1% in January, beating market expectations for a 0.2% drop. This marks the second decline in the last three months. Weakness in services industries (-0.3%) was to blame, although it was...
Consumers drive euro-zone economic recovery
Mar 31, 2015 18:15 pm UTC| Commentary
The euro-zone economic recovery has gained some pace thanks to a pick-up in consumer spending growth. The annual growth rate of retail sales volumes rose to near a ten-year high in January, due partly to falling prices....
IMF's COFER shows divergent behavior by advanced and EM central banks
Mar 31, 2015 17:32 pm UTC| Commentary
Data from the IMFs COFER showed global central banks reserves fell about $388bn in H2 14 (with a drop of $223bn in Q3 and $165bn in Q4). Much of drop on a global basis appears to be, however, driven by the effect of a...
Deceleration in China's growth to moderate in coming months
Mar 31, 2015 17:15 pm UTC| Commentary
China HSBC/Markit manufacturing PMI fell back to 49.2 in March from 50.7 in February, according to the flash reading. This was the latest in a string of disappointing data out of China in the first quarter and suggests...
South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed
Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects