After a volatile year and a seemingly robust start to 2012, Mark Schaltuper, Head of Europe Country Risk & Financial Markets, asked Business Monitor’s Commodities team what the outlook for commodities is for the remainder of the year. John Davies, Ed Coughlan and Ophelie Buchet share their views on the upside potential for the commodity… [Read more]
Chinese companies are to continue seeking iron ore, copper, and bauxite projects overseas as the country has a significant supply deficit in these metals. Regarding iron ore, China accounts for 14.9% of global production but consumes over 40% of the world’s steel output. This differential is replicated in copper and bauxite, and China is thus… [Read more]
Zambia held its general elections on September 20 2011, in which opposition candidate Michael Sata, from the Patriotic Front political party, emerged victorious. Most analysts were expecting a closely fought battle, but had tipped incumbent President Rupiah Banda to retain his position. Sata’s win poses important questions for Zambia, since his long political career has… [Read more]
Fund managers, analysts and traders often talk about the importance of being selective in stock picking. While the emergence of the risk-off/risk-on trade in recent years has perhaps lessened the appeal of this somewhat, in many markets an investor’s choice of sector or company continues to mean vastly differing returns. Since the global financial crisis,… [Read more]
Heavy flooding in Queensland has affected an area the size of France and Germany combined, disrupting agricultural and mining activities. Speaking from BMI’s Asia headquarters in Singapore, Head of Asia Research Rahul Ghosh, Head of Asia Country Risk & Financial Markets Stuart Allsopp, and Australia Analyst Kelvin Tan talk about the economic and financial market… [Read more]
Emerging Market (EM) equities are looking good at the moment, there is no doubt about it, and as regular readers of Riskwatchdog will already know, I am particularly bullish towards Polish, Turkish and Abu Dhabi stocks. But now looking elsewhere for the next big thing, I turn my attention to Latin America, identifying Peru as… [Read more]
783 years after the death of Genghis Khan, and 20 years after the Democratic Revolution which heralded a system of multi-party democracy and a market economy, Mongolia is about to be catapulted back onto the international scene. Why? Because my colleagues at Business Monitor International are set to launch the inaugural Mongolia Business Forecast Report…. [Read more]
