For some years now, social scientists and some economic historians have spoken about how cities are displacing nation-states as the most important actors on the world stage. The latest edition of Foreign Policy magazine carries an article along these lines, with the tag ‘The age of nations is over. The new urban age has begun’. [Read more...]

On Friday, August 6, Business Monitor International’s Head of Research Terry Alexander guest hosted Closing Bell Europe. Key points of discussion included the latest Eurozone GDP releases and asset class strategies amid a rallying bond market.

Tensions have been rising in the South China Sea of late, and these are threatening to put strains on China’s relations with South East Asia and the US.
Essentially, China has reiterated its long-standing claims over the whole of the South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel islands. Unsurprisingly, this sovereignty assertion is disputed by [Read more...]

Corruption is a major problem for most emerging markets, and in truth, quite a few developed states. Time and time again in BMI’s analysis on emerging markets, my colleagues and I have written on how governments need to crack down on corruption, if they want to attract greater foreign investment and prosper. However, this is [Read more...]

Last year, I mentioned that if Emerging Markets are truly to dominate the 21st century, then they would have to capture the world’s imagination through ‘soft power’, which I defined to mean cultural appeal. While I expect this will be a long-term process, evidence of Emerging Markets’ ability to transform Hollywood was apparent in a [Read more...]

The world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, Caterpillar, has announced impressive Q2 2010 results, with net profit almost doubling compared to Q2 2009 as a result of strong sales and revenues growth. Increased demand for machinery was the underlying growth driver, with cost-cutting boosting the bottom line.

The company is often considered a bellwether for the [Read more...]

Through the second quarter of 2010, many analysts noted a divergence between seemingly positive microeconomic data and a macroeconomic outlook which was flagging a renewed downturn in growth. A seemingly strong recovery in container shipping in particular augured well for global demand and trade. On this week’s Business Monitor Podcast, BMI’s Head of Shipping and [Read more...]

 

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