Markets

4 May 2015

A Preview of Emerging Market News and Events

EM assets remain on the defensive now that the dollar has regained some traction on the back of some firmer US data last week.  This Friday’s US jobs report will be key to determine whether the dollar’s current bounce is...

3 May 2015

Japan’s Population is Aging…Quickly

The ageing of Japan’s population is globally unprecedented in both its level and its speed. The ageing of Japan’s population is globally unprecedented in both its level and its speed. The proportion of people aged 65 years old and over...

1 May 2015

An Emerging Markets Status Update

1) Unconventional policy measure in China could be on the table; 2) Poland sold sells its first international bond with a negative yield; 3) Indonesia executed eight people over drug charges, seven of which were foreigners; 4) Russia’s central Bank...

30 April 2015

South Korea’s Migration Policies Are In Need Of Reform

North and South Korea are widely regarded to be ethnically homogenous societies. But with minority populations having grown in numbers and importance in both Koreas, demographic homogeneity has become a myth. Yet the importance of ethnic nationalism as an underlying...

30 April 2015

Japan’s Revival Could Be Its Neighbors’ Worry

For more than two decades, Japan has been caught up in a slow-burning crisis. Rapid aging population and low productivity have added to the declining financial health of the country. Japan’s public debt is twice the size of its annual...

29 April 2015

Japan’s Abe Moves Closer to His Ultimate Goal for the JA

The Abe administration’s policy of separating the organisational interests of JA-Zenchu, the peak body of agricultural cooperatives (JA), from the interests of the prefectural central unions (chÅ«Åkai) and local cooperatives and farmers generally paid off in April’s local government elections....

28 April 2015

India’s Modi Meets His Indian Ocean Neighbors

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka reflects New Delhi’s changed foreign policy priorities. It signals that India is no longer willing to be outmanoeuvred in the Indian Ocean region — its strategic backyard....

27 April 2015

A Preview of Emerging Market News and Events

It is a mixed start of the week for EM, though the short-term outlook is constructive.  The rebound in commodity prices has changed relative risk perception across the producer-importer spectrum.  Iron ore, for example, is up some 25% since the...

24 April 2015

Modernizing Indonesia’s Financial Sector

Reforms of the financial sector in Indonesia since 1997 have mitigated the key risk factors that caused the economic crisis of 1997. The first of these was structural weaknesses in the financial sector, particularly the banking system. The second was...

24 April 2015

An Emerging Markets Status Update

Over the last week, Hungary (+4.8%), Brazil (+4.6%), and Russia (+4.4%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while India (-4.5%), Thailand (-2.3%), and Egypt (-2.0%) have underperformed.  To put this in better context, MSCI EM...