The story of the past week has been the resurgence of the euro and the nascent return of risk appetite. The euro is poised to rally to resistance at US$1.3250/EUR, although we would be cautious at that stage. Interestingly, the euro has rallied as anticipation has grown surrounding ECB (European Central Bank) and multilateral assistance… [Read more]
Towards the end of 2010 our global team identified nine key global themes for 2011, ranging from an intensification of the eurozone debt crisis to ‘all eyes on China’. With 2011 now coming to a close, Mark Schaltuper, BMI’s Head of Europe Country Risk is joined by Global Economic Strategist Tim Cooper to see how… [Read more]
Sub-Saharan African assets have not been spared by the weakness that has hit ‘risky’ assets across the board, and my colleagues and I do not think that there is much to like financial market-wise in SSA right at this moment. That said, we are firm believers in the region’s longer-term prospects and we think that… [Read more]
It is hard to be upbeat towards Western economies right now, with so much bad data coming out of the US, and the eurozone struggling to hold itself together. Indeed, people could be forgiven for thinking that the West is down and out. However, this could be premature. One of the charts that has intrigued… [Read more]
When it comes to Sub-Saharan African markets, I favour equities as an asset class. Of course, selectivity is key: I prefer Nigerian, Ghanaian and Zambian stocks. In Nigeria’s case, I think improved investor confidence following the election will drive the market higher as participants reduce the political risk premium and focus on the attractive macroeconomic… [Read more]
BMI’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team expects to see further gains for Qatari stocks for the following reasons: Qatar is the most politically stable country in MENA. So far no signs of unrest have been recorded since the start of 2011. Furthermore, with countries like Bahrain, Yemen and even Oman being strongly affected… [Read more]
Today in Business Monitor Online, and in this week’s Emerging Markets Monitor (EMM) magazine, my colleagues and I outline our latest views of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) economies. The BRIC countries remain among our top growth picks over the long run, and we forecast real GDP expansion to average in excess of… [Read more]
