South African economy needs rate cut

Nov 18, 2015 13:06 pm UTC| Commentary Economy Central Banks

The South African Reserve Banks rate decision is likely to announce this week. On the one hand, the economy needs a monetary policy easing in order to accelerate the growth rate, but the central bank is under...

China property prices gain first time in fourteen months

Nov 18, 2015 09:37 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Another sign of stabilization from China in todays housing market report. Price across 70 cities surveyed rose for first time in 14 months, on yearly basis. As per Reuters calculation, prices across 70 cities rose by 0.1%...

Australia's wage growth bottoming out

Nov 17, 2015 21:24 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

As unemployment in Australia started to rise in late 2012, wage growth slowed. By the start of this year, annual wage growth (excluding bonuses) had declined to 2.3%, the lowest in the series - admittedly fairly short -...

Thailand GDP growth came within expectations

Nov 17, 2015 01:52 am UTC| Commentary Economy

Thailand 3Q15 GDP growth came in at 2.9% (YoY). On sequential basis, however, growth momentum accelerated markedly to 4.0% (QoQ, saar) from an average of 1.5% in 1H15. In the past year, sequential GDP growth has averaged...

Technical recession confirmed in Japan; little impact on monetary policy

Nov 16, 2015 02:49 am UTC| Commentary Economy

The 3Q GDP reported a 0.8% (QoQ saar) contraction this morning. This is the second consecutive quarter of decline, confirming that the economy has slipped into a technical recession. Investment and inventories were the...

Eurozone 3Q GDP growth runs out of steam

Nov 16, 2015 02:31 am UTC| Commentary Economy

According to advance estimates, the Eurozone economy expanded 0.3% (QoQ, sa) in 3Q15 slowing from 0.4% in 2Q. This translated to 1.6% YoY pace, in line with the expectations but slightly slower than consensus at 1.7%....

New Zealand Q3 2015 retail sales up 1.6%

Nov 16, 2015 01:55 am UTC| Commentary Economy

After pausing for air in June, retail sales growth rebounded in September. Over the quarter, the volume of goods sold was up a solid 1.6%, leaving sales up 5.7% over the year. Looking into the details of the report,...