Facing a double-whammy of a credit-fuelled housing bubble and a slowdown in Chinese economic activity, the outlook for Australia’s economy is turning increasingly precarious. While consensus continues to point towards further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of Australia, Business Monitor’s Head of Asia analysis, Stuart Allsopp, believes that further interest rate hikes are unlikely…. [Read more]
Since the start of the year, Risk Watchdog has started to observe an interesting dynamic unfold in Latin American FX markets. With the storm of deleveraging and unwinding of carry trade positions in late 2008 taking its toll on investor risk appetite, it appears that the so-called carry appeal of higher yielding currencies has all… [Read more]
I am of the belief that the European Central Bank (ECB) will cut its key interest rate to 1.00% by the end of 2009 from 2.00% at present. The economic outlook for the eurozone is bleak to say the least, with Business Monitor International forecasting a 3.0% contraction in GDP in 2009. Meanwhile, inflation is… [Read more]
