Markets

President Xi Jinping’s three-nation tour in the Middle East heralds a shift from US regime change to Chinese economic development. President Xi’s tour took place amid a perilous moment in the region. Saudi Arabia is struggling with the plunge of...

Japan’s labour market situation is improving. The unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in October 2015 was the lowest for 20 years. In addition, although improvement has been slow, wage growth has been accelerating. However, Japan’s labour market still faces several...

Instead of boosting growth, the Bank of Japan's negative interest rates will contribute to domestic fiscal deterioration, regional risks, and even global threats.  About a week ago, the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda said to the parliament: “We...

Prime Minister Cameron has enthusiastically embraced the EC draft proposals in response to the UK’s demands.  The wires quote Cameron as saying, "I would opt in to EU membership on these good terms."  The proposals presented by European Council President...

In 2012, Australia’s Asian Century White Paper outlined fundamental policy and attitudinal changes that would be required if Australia was to make the most of the opportunities presented by the Asian century. Yet it has had no impact on policy...

No country in Southeast Asia shoots itself in the foot more than Thailand. With so much going for it, the second-largest economy in the region still manages to underperform spectacularly. Its growth trajectory is in the 2–3 percent range even...

Since becoming India’s prime minister in May 2014, Narendra Modi has sought to make the country ‘open for business’. But while there is hope that his pro-business policies — often dubbed ‘Modinomics’ — will improve economic growth, aspects of India’s...

As we suspected, the current EM bounce still has some legs.  The BOJ’s surprise easing helped EM and risk end on last week on a strong note, and we expect that to carry over into this week.  Within EM, we...

1) Korea’s Financial Services Commission will introduce a so-called “omnibus account” for foreigners investing in local stocks, 2) Malaysian Attorney General Apandi Ali closed the investigation into transfers of foreign money into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts, 3)...

Economic forecasting is always difficult. The American economist John Kenneth Galbraith famously said ‘we have two sorts of forecasters: those who don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know’. Yet, while some sceptics assert that economic forecasts are...

After intensive industrialization, growth deceleration is natural. No nation has enjoyed sustained double-digit growth after industrialization. The real test of resilience is the continued increase of Chinese living standards. After intensive industrialization, growth deceleration is natural. No nation has enjoyed...

We had been tracking the budding scandal that implicated the office of Japan's Economic Minister Amari.  We had expressed our concern earlier this week that the scandal could sap Amari's office strength and be a distraction.  However, the situation unraveled...

It has been a shaky start to 2016 for global stock markets, with substantial falls across all international markets, followed by some weak rallies. The overall decline has been partly blamed on the price of crude oil, which is hovering...

If the mass media is to be believed, Africa is hardly a continent brimming with opportunities for business. However, for some time international business commentators have been positioning the continent as the next market with significant potential. It is now...

The Philippines has performed well in the past few years relative to its peers. It demonstrated great resilience to exogenous shocks that would have undone less capable economies. However, will it be able to sustain its positive economic position? There...