Julie Nicol

Julie Nicol is the Office Administrator in Singapore, working closely with the London office as well as providing support to the local sales team.

Japan Economics Weekly

Pick-up in fertility too little, too late

The slump in the share of young women that are married combined with the delay when women have their first child suggest that the fertility rate may at best rise from the current 1.4 to around 1.5...

8th June 2018 1 min read

Asia Economics Weekly

How will the Trump-Kim summit impact South Korea?

Next week’s summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jung Un, is a big deal politically, but even if a major breakthrough is announced, the impact on South Korea’s financial markets...

8th June 2018 1 min read

China Data Response

Trade (May)

Import growth was surprisingly strong last month. This probably reflects a continued recovery in industrial activity following the easing of winter pollution controls and is unlikely to be sustained...

8th June 2018 1 min read

Japan Data Response

GDP (Q1 Revised)

Revised data show that Japan’s economy expanded a little faster in recent quarters than initially reported. But the economy is running into capacity constraints and we expect growth to slow this year.

8th June 2018 1 min read

China Data Response

FX Reserves (May)

The latest foreign exchange reserves data are consistent with very little PBOC action in the FX markets. This suggests that the recent resilience of the renminbi relative to other EM currencies...

7th June 2018 1 min read

India Economics Update

Inflation Monitor (May)

Consumer price inflation is likely to have accelerated in May, due in large part to a rise in fuel inflation. Core inflation will also have remained elevated, and this is likely to be the case for...

7th June 2018 1 min read

Japan Data Response

Labour Cash Earnings (Apr.)

The slowdown in wage growth in April was driven by volatile bonus payments, whereas base pay kept growing at the strongest pace in two decades. But wages would still have to grow much faster to meet...

6th June 2018 1 min read

India Economics Update

Privatisation plans fail to take off

The government’s record privatisation target set for this year is dependent in part on a smooth sale of a large stake in Air India. But with no firms having shown any serious interest in making a bid...

5th June 2018 1 min read

Japan Data Response

Household Spending (Apr.)

While household spending was weak in April, the jump in retail sales suggests that private consumption returned to growth this quarter.

5th June 2018 1 min read

Japan Economics Weekly

BoJ getting more concerned about financial stability

The Bank of Japan seems to be getting more concerned about the impact of low policy rates on financial stability. However, the financial system is neither unwilling to provide credit nor is credit...

1st June 2018 1 min read

India Data Response

Manufacturing PMI (May)

India’s manufacturing PMI edged down in May. But the reading is still decent, and prospects for local manufacturers look relatively bright over the near term.

1st June 2018 1 min read

Asia Data Response

Manufacturing PMIs (May)

Most of Emerging Asia’s PMIs picked up in May. However, the manufacturing sector in Taiwan, one of the economies where the PMIs most closely track the hard data, appears to be losing momentum.

1st June 2018 1 min read

China Data Response

Caixin Manufacturing PMI (May)

The latest PMIs suggest that China continued to sustain rapid growth last month. But the surveys don’t tell the full story and have mostly defied a slowdown in the hard data during the past year.

1st June 2018 1 min read

Japan Data Response

Capital Spending (Q1)

Today’s capital spending confirmed that investment was sluggish last quarter and suggest that we won’t see major revisions in the second estimate of Q1 GDP.

1st June 2018 1 min read

China Data Response

Official PMIs (May)

Today’s strong set of official PMIs tell a reassuring story about current growth momentum and suggest that April’s recovery may have extended into May. However, we will have to wait for more reliable...

31st May 2018 1 min read

Japan Data Response

Industrial Production (Apr.)

Industrial production didn’t rise as much in April as most had anticipated. But the economy should still have returned to growth this quarter.

31st May 2018 1 min read