Lower availability of corn could rise use of wheat in EU
Aug 19, 2015 12:11 pm UTC| Commentary
Last week, the German Farmers Cooperative (DRV) predicted a 24% year-on-year slump in the German corn crop, while the USDA and the European Commission forecast a more than 15% slump for the EU. Because of the refusal to...
China real GDP likely contracted by 1.7%
Aug 19, 2015 12:03 pm UTC| Commentary
China is already exporting deflation to Japan in the sense that the Japanese PPI for domestic consumer goods has trended down with the Chinese PPI. Price cutting by Chinese exporters could exacerbate this effect. This, in...
EU wheat crop set to fall markedly despite record crop in France
Aug 19, 2015 09:45 am UTC| Commentary
Worldwide, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is predicting a record-high wheat crop in 2015/16, though this is unlikely to apply to the EU. Although France is likewise reporting a new record crop of up to 40.4...
Gold price rises significantly after brief dip
Aug 19, 2015 09:41 am UTC| Commentary
The gold price has risen well above $1,120 per troy ounce this morning and is therefore nearing the 3½-week high it achieved last week. Gold had come under pressure for a time yesterday, dipping briefly to $1,110....
DOE expected to report smaller decline in US crude oil stocks
Aug 19, 2015 09:36 am UTC| Commentary
Oil prices performed differently yesterday: whereas Brent stagnated at $48.5 per barrel, WTI gained by nearly 2% to reach $42.5 per barrel. The price increase in WTI is nothing more than the proverbial drop in the ocean in...
China Yuan Reminbi devaluation may hit exports
Aug 19, 2015 09:29 am UTC| Commentary
CNY devaluation could slow exports to China, while weighing on upstream inflation depending on the pricing behavior of Chinese exporters. Domestic machinery orders excluding ships and electric power (core orders), a...
A -4% decline likely in Russia’s 2015 GDP
Aug 19, 2015 09:27 am UTC| Commentary
Russias recession deepened to -4.6% y/y in Q2 from -2.2% in Q1. Russian real sector data to be released next week will provide further indications on the growth path. A bottoming out of the recession appears to be...
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’
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects