China Economics Update Liquidity tightens again The renminbi weakened against the dollar in March for a second month in a row but it is still one of the emerging world’s better performing currencies over the past year. Meanwhile, a renewed... 31st March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Policymakers signal preference for “fine-tuning” over stimulus With the People's Bank pushing interbank rates higher and senior figures ruling out significant fiscal and monetary loosening, market hopes of a stimulus package for China are likely to be... 31st March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Online spending giving hidden boost to retail sales By omitting rapidly-growing online sales, China’s retail sales data may be exaggerating how much spending has slowed in recent years. 27th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Data Response HSBC/Markit Flash Manufacturing PMI (Mar.) Today's weak PMI reading is the latest sign that slowing credit and investment growth are weighing on domestic demand. That said, with no sign of stress in the labour market, the slowdown does not yet... 24th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update The view from the ground - Q1 2014 Businesses in China are not too worried at present about the state of the wider economy, but they are extremely concerned about the conditions facing their own firms. By contrast, Chinese households... 21st March 2014 · 1 min read
China Activity Monitor China’s growth slowing to 7.5% in Q1 Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that renewed fears of a hard landing are overdone and that, although the economy has slowed going into this year, the rate of slowdown does not warrant a... 21st March 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Hand of People’s Bank seen in currency fall A rare trade deficit in February relieved some of the upward pressure on therenminbi, but the latest data suggest that the People’s Bank (PBOC) additionally purchased around $25bn of foreign exchange... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack China fears resurface Worries about the impact on other emerging economies of a slowdown in China have risen back to the top of the agenda over the past month. While we do not believe a hard landing is likely, we do expect... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Wider currency band doesn't shift fundamentals The People's Bank (PBOC) is keen to signal that this weekend's widening of the renminbi's trading band means that the currency's days as a "one-way bet" are over. But fundamentals still point to a... 16th March 2014 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Are markets complacent about Ukraine? Given the twin threats from worries about a “hard landing” in China and the crisis in Ukraine, it is perhaps surprising that global equities have not already fallen more than they have. We think that... 14th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Are China’s exporters struggling to compete? The recent slide of the renminbi and February’s weak exports have been linked by some to a supposed loss of competitiveness in China’s export sector. In fact, despite rapid wage growth and trend... 14th March 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update China fears resurface The past few days have seen renewed fears of a hard landing in China ripple through EM financial markets. These fears are nothing new and have in fact resurfaced at a time when EM export growth to... 13th March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Structural change in China: who is most vulnerable? The past week has seen renewed concern that a slowdown in China will drag on growth in the rest of the emerging world, including Latin America. We think some of these concerns are justified. But while... 13th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Premier Li shrugs off slowdown concerns Today’s weaker-than-expected data won’t do anything to settle investors’ nerves about the state of China’s economy. Hopes for an imminent policy response will also have been dented by Premier Li’s... 13th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Online funds pushing interest rate liberalisation forward Interest rate liberalisation is happening faster than seemed likely even a few months ago as the sudden take-off of online money market funds has forced opponents of liberalisation to rethink their... 11th March 2014 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Trade Monitor Manufacturers outperforming Export growth was more or less flat at an EM-wide level in January, but there’s a growing divergence at a country level, with highly-open manufacturing economies in Central Europe and East Asia... 10th March 2014 · 1 min read