Vital Signs Series

Vital Signs: economy limps towards more rate cuts

Jan 22, 2016 03:59 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Vital Signs is a new weekly economic wrap from UNSW economics professor and Harvard PhD Richard Holden (@profholden). Vital Signs aims to contextualise weekly economic events and cut through the noise of the data impacting...

South Korea's 3% growth is not too bad

Jan 22, 2016 02:57 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

South Koreas 4Q15 GDP is due next week. The growth is expected to decelerate to 2.0% (QoQ saar), down from 5.3% in 3Q15. The fall in exports and investment should have been the main drag, a reflective of the headwinds from...

China Crisis Series

China's financial sector a critical test for authorities in 2016

Jan 21, 2016 15:59 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Chinese governments supply-side reforms may affect the asset quality and profitability of overcapacity industries and the financial sector, which could dampen investor confidence in Chinese assets. A slump in key asset...

Climate Change Series

How Davos power brokers can start tackling major environmental risks

Jan 21, 2016 06:46 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The World Economic Forum (WEF) published its annual Global Risks Report in the run up to its annual meeting in Davos. Food and water crises, energy price shocks, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, extreme weather...

China Crisis Series

Explainer: what's going on with China's economy?

Jan 21, 2016 01:13 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

China has posted its lowest annual GDP growth since 1990. The slowdown is seen as a major concern for some investors, but against a backdrop of disappointing consumer spending, intensifying deflationary pressures, tepid...

Solid US labor markets data suggests slowdown to a short-lived

Jan 20, 2016 16:37 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

Labor market activity is a coincident indicator with GDP growth. Historical evidence shows that declining employment growth and a stable or rising unemployment rate has pre-dated every US recession since 1960. For now,...

China Crisis Series

Chinese economic growth slows in 2015, consistent with expectations

Jan 19, 2016 17:12 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

Year-over-year real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.8% (consensus: 6.9%) in the fourth quarter of 2015. With this last data point, growth for 2015 comes in at 6.9%, in line with the 6.8% forecast, but down from 7.3%...