Markets

Back in February 2005, Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai was re-elected with a bumper majority. However, as Thaksin consolidated ever more power, his opponents became anxious. The Democrat Party worried that it would never again control the levers of government,...

Canada reported its monthly GDP estimate for September, and at the same time, provided its first estimate of Q3 GDP.   The Great Graphic, created on Bloomberg, shows both time series. The yellow line depicts the monthly GDP and the quarterly...

China has a problem. No, not Donald Trump trying to savage it any time he comes within three feet of a microphone. It’s that enormous social shifts in recent years – like the forcible relocation of 250 million people from...

This is set to be one of the most important weeks of the year. EM is likely to take a backseat between the ECB monetary policy decision, the OPEC meeting, and the US jobs report. That said there are several...

These are tiring times for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Najib has so far managed to stay in power despite the flurry of attacks on his leadership. Political debacles have almost cost Najib his prime ministership and the popularity of...

In the EM equity space, Hungary (+2.3%), Korea (+2.0%), and Malaysia (+1.2%) have outperformed over the last week, while China (-5.8%), Turkey (-5.6%), and Poland (-3.4%) have underperformed.  To put this in better context, MSCI EM fell -1.8% over the...

The US dollar is firm against the major currencies and nearly all the emerging market currencies as well to close out the week (and month) Participants are clearly focused on next week's events, and in particular, the prospect of additional...

Africa’s natural environments and spectacular wildlife are about to face their biggest challenge ever. In a paper published today in Current Biology, my colleagues and I assess the dramatic environmental changes driven by an infrastructure-expansion scheme so sweeping in scope...

Energy is probably Japan’s greatest vulnerability, both in environmental terms and in assured sources of supply. Japan’s long-run energy policy is simple — obtain stable supplies at low cost — but implementation is complex in what is a global, dynamic,...

EM starts the week on an uncertain footing. Commodity prices were off sharply until comments by Saudi Arabia lifted them, reversing the trend in commodity-sensitive assets. The dollar is also back on the rise, pressuring EM FX even as a...

On 29 October 2015, the 18th central committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) issued a communiqué allowing all Chinese couples to have two children. The new policy will come into effect from March 2016 after formal ratification by the...

1) Mexico's FX commission tweaked its intervention program slightly; 2) The political tide in Brazil has turned slightly better for the government; 3) The PBOC announced a rate cut for its Standing Lending Facility (SLF) for local financial institutions; 4)...

Are oil and gas companies going the way of big tobacco? Not soon, it would seem. The UK stock market counts Royal Dutch Shell and BP in its top five stocks by market value. In the US, Exxon vies with...

Since President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) took office, he has been clear and consistent in explaining his foreign policy priorities, enunciating the principle of putting ‘national interest’ first. Putting national interest first is to be expected in a leader’s foreign policy....

The traditional worldview of the British pint is of something warm, flat, and rather unpleasant. However, the recent signing of a multi-million-pound deal to supply barley to China underlines the extraordinarily far-reaching esteem in which the world holds the British...