Markets

The US dollar is firmer but is largely within the range seen yesterday.  The market awaits developments from the G20 meeting that concludes today and meeting of European finance ministers followed by the heads of state gathering.   The US...

As in other areas, the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China has been a gradual process. Now, almost 25 years after SOE reforms began, the government must tackle new problems: breaking down special interests, distancing the state from the...

The rebound in oil prices and the sliver of hope of a peace treaty in Ukraine is serving to soften a few of the trends in EM assets in recent months.  We doubt that this is the start of a...

1.  The swing in the pendulum of expectations back toward a mid-year Fed rate hike is one of the key developments that will shape the investment climate.  The data in the week ahead, including the broader measures of the labor...

Investors are having a tough time of things today.  Three issues have eclipsed the firming of expectations for a mid-year Fed hike.First, Greece's Tsipras remained committed to his campaign promises in a speech to parliament that keeps it in loggerheads...

China, like much of the developed world, faces slower growth and an ageing population. Africa in contrast offers the potential of ‘catch up’ growth and a growing young pool of low-cost labour, alongside plentiful natural resources. The economic prospects of...

Over the last week, Russia (+12.2%), Hungary (+7.2%), and UAE (+6.3%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while Turkey (-4.0%), Hong Kong (-0.8%), and the Philippines (-0.2%) have underperformed.  To put this in better context,...

The European Central Bank (ECB) symbolises the strange mix of politics and technocracy that marks EU governance. The bank was pushed to centre stage by the Eurozone debt crisis and the unwillingness or inability of Europe’s national governments to come...

President Barack Obama’s recent visit to India will kick-start stalled negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the US and India that has been under sporadic discussion since 2008, aimed at facilitating greater cross-border investment flows. President Barack Obama’s...

Vietnam has recently upped its diplomatic efforts to strengthen relations with major powers by signing comprehensive and strategic partnership agreements. The underlying diplomatic philosophy is to create interdependent relations with as many major powers as possible, while avoiding taking sides....

Few countries have done so well out of China’s belated economic awakening as Australia, which has sated much of the People’s Republic’s voracious appetite for overseas iron ore and metallurgical coal. Supply struggled to keep pace with demand and the...

The main story today is not that the ECB will no longer (as of February 11) accept Greek government bonds as collateral and that Greek banks can have access to the national central bank via the Emergency Lending Assistance.  That...

Two things stand out about the economic recovery in Britain. One is the sluggish growth in real wages. The other is the sluggish growth in productivity. That the two phenomena have coincided is no accident. Low real wages, by eroding...

The Planning Commission is dead: long live the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI).The role and remit of India’s new planning institution has been under debate ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address announced the demise...

For years, Chinese officials and foreign analysts have been obsessed with China’s GDP growth figures. There has been a widespread belief that if GDP growth dips below 8 percent, there would be massive upheaval. This widely held perception turned out...