South Africas growth under pressure

Aug 31, 2015 11:13 am UTC| Commentary

Last week, Africas two largest economies, South Africa and Nigeria, published their Q2 15 GDP growth data, and it came as no surprise that growth weakened further. However, what was surprising perhaps was the magnitude of...

CEE growth likely to remain steady

Aug 31, 2015 10:09 am UTC| Commentary

Central Europe growth had been buoyant. However, with global growth under pressure, some initial signs of a possible fraying at the edges have arisen. This weeks PMI and retail sales data will shed some light on the...

ICCO lowers estimate for global cocoa supply deficit

Aug 31, 2015 09:35 am UTC| Commentary

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has reduced its estimate of the 2014/15 global cocoa supply deficit to just 15,000 tons - previously the ICCO had assumed a deficit of 38,000 tons. The reason for the downward...

Arab Gulf states OPEC deligates rejecting calls for measures to shore up prices

Aug 31, 2015 09:33 am UTC| Commentary

The CFTC data this Friday will give a clearer picture of the extent of the short covering. Speculative net long positions in WTI already increased slightly in the week to 25 August, despite the fact that the WTI price had...

Gold price driven strongly by speculation

Aug 31, 2015 09:31 am UTC| Commentary

Gold is somewhat firmer at a good $1,130 per troy ounce as the new weeks gets underway, no doubt partly thanks to the weaker US dollar. In euro terms gold is holding its own above the 1,000 per troy ounce mark, notes...

Brent and WTI with most pronounced two-day rises since 2003

Aug 31, 2015 09:30 am UTC| Commentary

Short covering continued on Friday, which once again lent considerable buoyancy to oil prices. Brent further increased by a good 5% and WTI by more than 6%. In the last two days of trading combined, Brent is up 16% and WTI...

NBH to hold bank rate for extended period

Aug 31, 2015 09:05 am UTC| Commentary

Hungary kept its base rate on hold, at 1.35%, as expected. Last month, the NBH announce a final cut in the cycle and gave explicit written guidance that it expected to keep on hold for an extended period, until inflation...