On this week’s Business Monitor Podcast we assess the outlook for global treasury markets. 2010 has thus far been a gangbusters year for treasuries and the implications for interest rate and inflation expectations has heavily reinforced our core macroeconomic outlook for a major downturn in global demand growth. Key questions addressed in the podcast include: [Read more...]

 

 Global Treasury Markets: How Low Can Yields Go? [19:14m]
Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

That the long awaited results from the EU bank stress tests (released late on July 23) failed to move the markets substantially should come as little surprise. For the stress test results to cause a major re-pricing of assets in the short run, one of two scenarios would have had to take place. On the [Read more...]

China’s Dagong Global Credit Rating Co earlier this week released what it described as the first ever assessment of sovereign credit risks by a non-Western ratings agency. Dagong’s report covers 50 countries (20 in Europe, 17 in Asia, 2 in North American, 6 in South American, 3 in Africa, and 2 in Oceania) comprising 90% [Read more...]

Source: UK National Archives

In keeping with its promise to deliver an emergency budget within 50 days of coming to office, the UK’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government today unveiled a painful package of fiscal reforms to get public finances back on an even keel. Delivered by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne before parliament, the budget [Read more...]

The European private equity industry looks to be fighting a losing battle against regulators. The introduction of a new regulatory framework, that will most likely undermine the recovery in PE activity just as it has started to gather traction, is set to go to a vote in the European Parliament this week. While my colleagues [Read more...]

Having expressed a somewhat cynical view ahead of the landmark UK general elections last week, I thought I’d offer some more sober comments this week.

The coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats brings together the largest and third largest blocs within the new House of Commons, and will have a majority of 74. This [Read more...]