Brazil’s Q409 real GDP reading came in roughly in line with market expectations, posting a growth rate of 2.0% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) seasonally adjusted – its highest reading in two years. Expectations of a robust headline number for Q4 have previously sent the interbank deposit (DI) futures market higher, amid expectations that the Banco Central do [Read more...]

With bad news out of Greece and other southern eurozone states casting a long shadow over much of Europe in recent months, finding relative value has become more difficult. Certainly, equities and currencies do not offer the same buying opportunities that they did during the Q209-Q309 rally.

However, a weak growth outlook on the back of [Read more...]

For all the doom and gloom surrounding European markets on the back of the Greek sovereign crisis and concomitant sell-off in euro and sterling, emerging market currencies in the region still look bid. Traditionally, when EUR/US$ has weakened, so too have benchmark central European cross rates such as PLN/EUR and CZK/EUR. However, this correlation has [Read more...]

On this week’s podcast, Business Monitor Chief Economist Tim Cooper, Head of Europe Analysis Justin Patrie and Senior Europe Analyst Bruce Jeffery discuss European investment strategy on the back of the Greek fiscal crisis and news of an EU support package for Athens. In addition to providing analysis on the most recent market developments in [Read more...]

 

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The end of month closes across asset classes could be the most important since March 2009, when a clear reversal pattern prompted us to turn bullish towards equities. This time, a weak close would suggest an end to the rally of the past 10 months, with the potential for some significant medium-term downside for equities [Read more...]

 

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Having rung up over US$25bn in debts, and four state bailouts in the past decade, Japan Airlines – Asia’s largest airline – has finally filed for bankruptcy protection. The beleaguered company made the filing yesterday, and although the government has pledged to keep the carrier in the air, almost 16,000 jobs will be slashed in [Read more...]

This week the People’s Bank of China tried to send a clear signal that it is starting to tighten monetary conditions as the economic recovery takes hold. Stuart Allsopp, BMI China analyst, explains the significance of the bank’s  move to raise its 3-month bill financing rate and reserve requirement ratios for the monetary policy outlook [Read more...]

 

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