Europe Economics Update New Democracy, same old problems New Democracy’s clear victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections yesterday will be welcomed by investors. But it will not be a game changer for the economy, not least because the government will... 8th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Japan Data Response Machinery Orders (May) Despite a slump in May, machinery orders point to broadly stable capital spending in the second quarter. Even so, we expect investment growth to slow sharply over the coming quarters. 8th July 2019 · 2 mins read
India Economics Weekly A US$5trn economy by 2025? The main message from the annual Economic Survey released this week is that the government has made it a key objective to turn India into a US$5trn economy by FY24/25, from US$2.7trn currently. But... 5th July 2019 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Update Pick your own Brexit forecast As long-term clients will know, we have been publishing different forecasts for the economy based on two different Brexit outcomes, “deal on 31st October” and “no deal on 31st October”. We are now... 1st July 2019 · 6 mins read
Japan Data Response Tankan (Q2) The Tankan’s all industry index fell at a slower pace in the second quarter than in the first, which suggests that the economy may be past the worst. That said, the slowdown has started to ease... 1st July 2019 · 2 mins read
India Economics Weekly The bad loan cycle is turning The RBI’s confirmation this week that the NPL ratio has dropped over the past year suggests that the government’s efforts to tidy up the banking sector are gradually having an impact. We are... 28th June 2019 · 4 mins read
China Economics Weekly G20 truce, armyworm epidemic Trump and Xi will meet tomorrow and may agree to hold off imposing new tariffs for the time being. While this would be a positive outcome for China’s economy and markets in the short-run, any gains... 28th June 2019 · 6 mins read
Japan Economics Weekly Upper House elections, higher Nikkei forecasts The ruling coalition will probably defend its two-thirds majority at the Upper House election on 21 st July. That means continued fiscal tightening, ultra-loose monetary policy and little progress on... 28th June 2019 · 5 mins read
Japan Data Response Labour Market & Industrial Production (May) While the labour market remains tight, the drop in the job-to-applicant ratio is an early sign that it will slacken over coming months. Meanwhile, the jump in industrial production and capital goods... 28th June 2019 · 3 mins read
Africa Economics Update South Africa: Ramaphosa has a dream, but few plans South Africa’s president provided essentially no policy detail in yesterday’s ambitious State of the Nation speech. Indeed, he seems to have walked back his plan of a relatively modest restructuring... 21st June 2019 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea will struggle to reverse demographic decline The Korean government has made some welcome progress over recent years in encouraging more women into formal employment. But even if this trend continues, the size of the workforce in Korea looks set... 14th June 2019 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Abe blowing his own trumpet a little too loudly PM Abe has presided over a sharp increase in employment since he returned to power in 2012. But productivity growth has been very weak, red tape remains prevalent and there are still too few foreign... 14th June 2019 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Focus Weaker growth is here to stay With productivity slowing and working age populations set to start falling across most of Asia, we expect regional growth to slow to just 3.5% in a decade’s time. This compares with average growth of... 12th June 2019 · 1 min read
India Economics Weekly Pressure for reform ratcheting up The withdrawal this week of the preferential trade status granted by the US to several Indian products will have limited economic impact given that exports of the affected goods were worth just 0.2%... 7th June 2019 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update The policies of the 12 trying to get into Number 10 While the 12 candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party are divided over the best approach to Brexit, they seem reasonably united in calling for looser fiscal policy. That could give the... 4th June 2019 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update US corporate credit spreads likely to rise much further We think that corporate credit spreads in the US will continue to climb this year, as the economy there slows. Our forecast is for the spreads of speculative-grade bonds to rise by well over 100bp, on... 4th June 2019 · 1 min read
