India Data Response Services & Composite PMIs (Mar.) India’s March PMIs show services as the bright spot last month as looser virus restrictions allowed activity to rebound. Unless COVID-19 cases pick up again, the outlook for the services sector... 6th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Japan Economics Update Yen intervention may not work and benefits unclear The yen isn’t obviously undervalued so it isn’t clear whether attempts to weaken it would work. Most importantly, the Bank of Japan remains convinced that a weaker yen is beneficial for Japan’s... 6th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Japan Data Response Japan Wages & Household Spending (Feb. 22) Japanese wage growth strengthened in February and we think it will accelerate further over the coming months as overtime and bonus pay continue to recover. However, as the post-Omicron rebound wears... 5th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Counting the fiscal costs of higher oil prices Higher oil prices will boost government revenues in the major EM energy producers, but many other EMs will face a fiscal cost via fuel subsidy programmes. While these costs are likely to be small in... 4th April 2022 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Update Flaring political risks a major threat in South Asia A constitutional crisis in Pakistan threatens to scupper its deal with the IMF, which would throw its already-precarious external situation into very dangerous territory. Meanwhile, political meltdown... 4th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Global Markets Update We don’t think China’s stock market is set to surge While we suspect the recent recovery in the MSCI China Index may have further to run, we don’t think the stage is set for a big rally either. 1st April 2022 · 3 mins read
China Economics Weekly Services suffering Incoming data over recent days have been worse than generally expected and probably still don’t fully reflect the extent of current economic disruption in China. The week has ended with some positive... 1st April 2022 · 4 mins read
China Economics Focus What will China do with its FX reserves? In adapting to the threat of having its foreign exchange reserves frozen, the People’s Bank is likely to shift more of its portfolio into unconventional alternatives, including EM sovereign debt and... 1st April 2022 · 19 mins read
Commodities Update China demand will still be key in driving metal prices The war in Ukraine and high energy prices will keep industrial metal prices elevated for now. But once supply fears ease, the weakness in China’s demand will be exposed and will weigh on prices. 1st April 2022 · 3 mins read
India Economics Weekly Price pressures are building The main focus next week will be the RBI’s policy announcement on Friday. We think the MPC will leave its policy settings unchanged, but we still expect the committee to ditch its dovish tone later... 1st April 2022 · 5 mins read
Japan Economics Weekly Investor rebellions getting harder for BoJ to put down The Bank of Japan had to go to unprecedented lengths to push 10-year yields back down into its ±0.25% tolerance band this week. If this week’s rate of JGB purchases were sustained through April, the... 1st April 2022 · 5 mins read
China Data Response China Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Mar.) The Caixin manufacturing index published today fell under 50 last month as measures to contain the latest virus outbreak weighed heavily on industry and, taken together with the official survey... 1st April 2022 · 3 mins read
Japan Data Response Bank of Japan Tankan (Q1 2022) The fall in the Q1 Tankan suggests that GDP almost certainly contracted last quarter. However, non-manufacturing sentiment held up better-than-expected during the Omicron wave and the labour market... 1st April 2022 · 3 mins read
China Chart Pack Waiting for action Efforts to stabilise China’s financial markets have been a short term success. Although in aggregate March was one of the worst months on record for portfolio outflows from onshore markets, there were... 31st March 2022 · 12 mins read
India Data Response Core Infrastructure Industries (Feb.) Output from India’s core infrastructure industries picked up in February as the Omicron wave subsided. But the surge in commodity prices as a result of the war in Ukraine is likely to squeeze profit... 31st March 2022 · 2 mins read
China Data Response China Official PMIs (Mar.) The surveys add to growing evidence of a large blow to service sector activity amid the latest virus surge. The hit to industry looks to have been much more modest. But even so, the economy is in the... 31st March 2022 · 3 mins read
