Markets

EC President Juncker is set to unveil a new investment program.  It sounds good:  a fiscal complement to the monetary policy stance of the ECB.  Expectations are running high that the ECB will move to more aggressively expand its balance...

The U.S. dollar remains within recent ranges against the euro, yen and sterling.  The antipodean currencies fell, and that is where the movement is today.  The main impetus is from a downgrade in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's inflation...

Australia and India have not always been the best of friends. Australia and India have not always been the best of friends.Seven Indian prime ministers from across the political spectrum and spanning three decades have come and gone without paying...

Much energy has been expended on projecting the impact of the rise of Chinese economic power on its political and military might and the strategic contest with the United States. In a conflation of geo-economic and geo-strategic analysis, two camps...

The 2014 APEC leaders’ summit witnessed a string of successes in Chinese trade diplomacy. Key among these successes was the endorsement of China’s signature trade initiative as APEC host: the realisation sooner rather than later of a Free Trade Area...

The huge reversal last week in the underperforming currencies (BRL and RUB) has put some of the bears on the defensive. In addition, the recent political news (except for Mexico) has been positive: Indonesia's increase in subsidized fuel prices was...

A new phase in the markets began this month.  The Federal Reserve ended its QE3+ purchases.  The Bank of Japan unexpectedly and dramatically stepped up its asset purchases under its QQE operations.  The government's largest pension fund announced aggressive portfolio...

Domestic uncertainties in Thailand and Cambodia have hindered progress along the heavily militarised border and the Preah Vihear temple dispute. Domestic uncertainties in Thailand and Cambodia have hindered progress along the heavily militarised border and the Preah Vihear temple dispute.Between...

Japan’s recession is not paving way for sustained growth. It is prolonging new debt and liquidity and thus deteriorating fiscal discipline.In the last quarter, Japan’s economy fell into recession. In the West, it was characterized as “unexpected.” The realities are precisely...

1) Peace talks in Colombia are becoming more tenuous  2) Brazil still doesn’t have an economic team, but there is a frontrunner  3) Center-right candidate Klaus Iohannis won the Presidential election in an upset result  4) Indonesia’s government finally raised...

The decision by Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to call a snap election barely two years into a four-year term demonstrates a degree of political flexibility other world leaders can only envy. Abe did not need to go to the...

Forget shirt-fronting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s most challenging task in the summit season was breaking an uncomfortable silence with Chinese president Xi Jinping. And he had to do it twice: first at the APEC meeting...

Taken at face value, David Cameron’s warning this week about risks in the global economy sounds like it might be wonderfully prescient. Here’s the country’s economic chauffeur, carefully checking his instrument gauges, and sure enough, sees the same signs today...

A direct link has been established between Hong Kong and Shanghai’s stock exchanges. The so-called Stock Connect means investors in Hong Kong can now buy shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange via their local brokers and vice versa. This...

On 17 December 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued Japan’s first National Security Strategy (NSS). The document declares that Japan will make a more ‘proactive contribution to peace’ based on the principle of international cooperation. It also outlines three basic...