Economics

Anticipating a yawning divergence of monetary policy between the world's largest central banks, market participants continued to drive the dollar higher over the past week.  In fact, the greenback appreciated against all the major and emerging market currencies except the...

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) takes steps toward implementing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015, they should be cognisant that the paths towards economic integration and sustainable urbanisation are closely intertwined. Southeast Asian...

On 1 November 2015, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye convened in Seoul, South Korea for the Sixth Trilateral Summit. The meeting was the first after political and historical disputes...

On 29 September, President Enrique Peña Nieto formally launched an initiative he had first announced in November 2014 to create, for the first time in Mexico, three special economic zones (SEZs) in the country’s poorest states. The next day, Peña...

With the ECB poised to take additional steps down the unorthodox monetary policy route, financial and economic forces are as potent as ever.  However, there is a subtle shift, taking place that few seem to recognize.  It is the re-emergence...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) handed down a ruling against the United States, finding that a program implemented decades ago in an effort to save dolphins amounts to a "technical barrier to trade." Mexico initiated the case against the US....

The US dollar remains firm, even if it has eased from its seven-month high against the euro and five-year high against the Swiss franc recorded yesterday.  The US October personal consumption expenditure was disappointing, and prompted some downward revision to...

Relations between the US and South Africa have hit another low in a series of trade disputes that go as far back as 2003. While strengthening its relations with other countries, the US has threatened to suspend South Africa from...

At the beginning of October, 12 Pacific Rim countries agreed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The TPP agreement has been hailed as a landmark trade pact, as it includes many issues that have so far not found their way...

Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao paid a high-profile visit to India from 3–7 November 2015. This was the first time that a Chinese Vice President paid a state visit to India. The visit followed two other high profile events: Chinese President...

On Monday, the Federal Reserve met to discuss the discount rate.  There has been a steady increase in the number of regional Federal Reserve presidents requesting an increase in the discount rate.  The minutes of the October 26 meeting were...

Europe currently has approximately 900 billion euros ($956 billion USD) in bad loans, (aka non-performing loans or NPLs). The director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Jose Vinals, announced that figure. Europe currently...

The divergence of monetary policy is discounted, they argued. Ahead of next week's big events, which include the IMF's SDR decision, the ECB meeting, OPEC meeting, and the US jobs data, the euro, against which speculators have amassed a large...

Despite diplomatic missteps, APEC 2015 could pave way to regional peace and development. The triangular perspectives of Washington, Beijing, and Manila tell the story. Washington’s exclusive policies Despite diplomatic missteps, APEC 2015 could pave way to regional peace and development....

The US dollar is trading choppily but with a distinct softer bias.  The economic news has been limited, and the apparent downing of a Russian plane by Turkey caused a flurry of activity, with Turkish assets coming under initial pressure...