Markets

The US dollar has recouped much of the ground lost yesterday in response to the US retail sales report, which while softer than expected was the best in a year.  Year-over-year excluding the volatile auto and gas components, retail sales...

EM assets are starting the week on a now familiar pattern:  weaker currencies but stronger stock markets.  The broad dollar rally is back in force, with the greenback pushing back against earlier cycle highs against many of the major currencies. ...

China saw a 9.8 percent growth rate on average during 1978–2010 — the best in the world. China will likely surpass the US to become the world’s largest economy in purchasing power terms in 2015, if it has not already...

Ever since former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao reshaped India’s foreign policy in the 1990s under the so-called ‘Look East’ policy India has strengthened ties with Southeast Asia. The current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unequivocally said that...

Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Central Leading Group on Rural Affairs, has long admitted that many countries produce soybeans more efficiently than China. So how can agricultural policy makers reform China’s soy industry? Soy is a core oilseed product...

In January 2015, the Vietnamese government issued a decree on the implementation guidelines of the Vietnamese Labour Code. One of the sections of the decree deals with the resolution of workers’ strikes, which happen mostly in foreign enterprises. Though the...

The nationwide local government elections in April are the ideal opportunity for Japan’s agricultural cooperative organisation (JA) led by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) to respond to the Abe administration’s recent reforms of the JA group. On 12...

Over the last week, China (+8.7%), Russia (+8.1%), and Hong Kong (+6.0%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while Czech Republic (-0.9%), Egypt (-0.9%), and Taiwan (-0.2) have underperformed.  To put this in better context,...

The year 2014 was a great year for the United States economy. However, the year 2015 hasn't been the same. While we are still not in dire straits, we're not seeing the consumer spending and job growth that we saw...

As two mega-regional preferential trade agreements — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — loom closer to completion, India must move towards higher trade standards. Trade diversion from non-member countries of these mega-regional trade agreements...

The US dollar has given back most of yesterday's gains though the euro has been unable to resurface above $1.09.  The uptrend that marked most of Q1 has morphed into what appears to be a range affair.  However, the range...

On 19 December 1984, amidst great fanfare, the United Kingdom and China signed the Sino–British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong. It contained extensive guarantees of Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law, and fundamental rights — all of...

EM currencies are starting the week off firm, helped by the weak US jobs data on Friday.  While we continue to see the US economy’s weakness in Q1 as transitory, risk sentiment should remain fairly strong near-term as Fed rate...

Dame Meg Taylor is no ordinary woman. The first woman to be appointed to the position of Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum has a proud track record of breaking boundaries on behalf of Pacific women. As PNG’s first...

The US dollar firmed in thin Asian turnover, but now is slightly lower against most currencies as US traders return to their posts.  Many centers remain closed and participation is light. The US dollar firmed in thin Asian turnover, but...