Markets

Three companions enjoyed a midday meal.  The first says, “I’m satiated.  The food and drink have done the trick.  I'm ready to return to work."  The second says he still has room for a dessert to top off the wonderful...

The drop in oil prices since mid-year has been a significant development even though the broader ramifications for world growth, prices and policy are only now being worked out.  Just as the inflation predicated in the US as a consequence...

Xi Jinping has tackled serious domestic and foreign policy challenges since he assumed leadership in November 2012. He has put great effort into an astonishingly large-scale domestic anti-corruption campaign and has invested diplomatically in enhancing China’s image as a major...

There is good news and bad news about the recent string of victories of the ‘Red and White’ coalition in the Indonesian parliament. The good news is that unlike previous Indonesian presidents, President Joko Widodo — popularly known as Jokowi...

Overall, the investment climate for EM is likely to remain negative in this strong dollar environment.  A weaker than expected official China PMI over the weekend didn't help matters. Indeed, most of the Asian PMI readings out already came in...

There are three elements to the investment climate:  The divergence between the US on one hand and Europe and Japan on the other, the drop in many commodity prices, including oil, and the slowing of the Chinese economy.  Last week,...

Regional economic cooperation in Asia and across the Pacific was developed around the idea of open regionalism and building the capacity for regional development in the global, multilateral trading system. Global institutions — the GATT and then the WTO —...

The effects of Japan’s feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable energy have been impressive. Since 2011, Japan has seen a massive expansion of solar photovoltaics (PV). The size of the domestic market increased from 1GW in 2010 to almost 7GW in...

1) Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government will probably raise subsidized fuel prices before year-end 2) Dilma Rousseff was re-elected as President of Brazil 3) Brazil’s central bank delivered a hawkish surprise too on Wednesday, hiking rates by 25 bp...

In August, the Appellate Body of the WTO ruled that China’s export duties, quotas, and administration of rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum products violated various provisions of the GATT and the Accession Protocol that China promised to implement when it...

The market is generally expecting a dovish FOMC statement. We have argued that it will most likely be little changed, except for modification relating to the asset purchases. Keen interest will be on its references to inflation.   The market...

This Great Graphic is from the Dutch Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis (CPB), and was posted by Steve Goldstein at MarketWatch.  It shows the three-month average year-over-year growth rate of global trade.The growth of trade slowed dramatically in from the...

The US dollar is narrowly mixed in quiet turnover.  The historic FOMC meeting that announces the end of QE is finally at hand.  This marks a new phase, post-QE, for monetary policy, and the US economy more broadly.  Although there...

Global risk-off sentiment and the reelection of Dilma Rousseff as the Brazilian president is setting EM off on the back foot to start the week. However, the lack of large moves in the dollar could mean that negative sentiment will...

The APEC summit is just over a week away and all stops are out in Beijing to make it an economic and diplomatic triumph, despite the huge underlying challenges in managing China’s relations with the region. The primary goals and...