China Economics Update FX reserves are no magic bullet in a debt crisis The foreign exchange reserves of the People’s Bank would be of little use in the event of a debt or banking crisis in China. The bulk of the costs of any clean-up would ultimately still be paid by the... 25th June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Will EM assets shrug off tighter Fed policy? We are sceptical that tighter US monetary policy will spell disaster for emerging market (EM) assets. Granted, their prices fell sharply after Ben Bernanke first hinted that the Fed was thinking about... 24th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Dubai equities on the slide The Dubai equity market has fallen sharply over the past month amid concerns that the Emirate’s real estate sector is becoming another bubble. Elsewhere, spreads on Egypt’s dollar-denominated bonds... 24th June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Another selection of our non-consensus calls This Update provides some examples of where our views on the economic and market outlook differ significantly from the consensus. It draws on the range of country and regional services produced by our... 23rd June 2014 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Kenya joins the eurobond rush Sub-Saharan Africa’s eurobond markets hit the headlines again in June when Kenya became the latest country to issue dollar-denominated debt. With much of the region continuing to enjoy low yields by... 23rd June 2014 · 1 min read
UK Markets Chart Pack Markets jolted by MPC’s new tone The MPC’s recent hawkish comments have helped to push near-term interest rate expectations higher and have fuelled a further rally in sterling to its strongest trade-weighted level since October 2008... 23rd June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Market implications of our revised UK Bank Rate forecast The strength of the UK’s economic recovery and more hawkish signals coming from members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have prompted us to revise our projection for the path... 19th June 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update SNB on hold for now, but further action will be needed The Swiss National Bank (SNB) today maintained its strongly supportive policy stance, pledging to enforce the ceiling on the Swiss franc with “the utmost determination”. We think that the SNB will... 19th June 2014 · 1 min read
DM Valuations Monitor How overvalued is the US stock market? At almost 26, the level of Shiller’s 10-year cyclically-adjusted price/earnings ratio (CAPE) is currently more than 65% above its average since 1881. But the CAPE is inflated because reported earnings... 18th June 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Recovery in Russian markets continues Emerging European equities have rebounded over the past month, driven by Russian stocks. However, this has merely recouped losses seen earlier in the year. Looking ahead, we’re relatively downbeat on... 18th June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Iraq crisis tops a long list of geopolitical risks There are good reasons to be relaxed about the global economic fall-out from the latest crisis in Iraq, including the possibility that it might actually lead to an improvement in relations between the... 16th June 2014 · 1 min read
EM Markets Chart Pack What next for Russia's financial markets? We do not think the recent outperformance of Russia’s financial markets and currency will last. Indeed, the ruble has already dropped back slightly over the past week or so. There are three key... 11th June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Low market volatility is raising long-term risks The low levels of volatility in financial markets reflect a high degree of confidence in the ability of the authorities to prevent crises and respond to shocks, expectations that any policy changes... 10th June 2014 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Lower Canadian dollar unlikely to catapult economy The Canadian dollar's decline, which began about a year ago, has reinforced the Bank of Canada's prior view that it's long-awaited export recovery is finally set to go. Over the past year, however... 9th June 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Less to EM reserve accumulation than meets the eye Foreign exchange reserve accumulation by emerging markets has been cited by some as a reason whybond yields in the developed world have fallen in recent months and by others as evidence that the... 6th June 2014 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update ECB falls well short of Bank of Japan’s bold easing The muted market responses to the ECB’s policy announcements today are not necessarily a sign of failure: equity prices, bond yields and the euro itself all edged a little further in the desired... 5th June 2014 · 1 min read