France and Italy remain problem areas in the euro area

Jan 13, 2016 15:50 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

Reforms initiated in the recent years have not really brought the breakthrough hoped for in France and Italy. In addition, house prices are still falling, the sharp rise of private-sector debt in past years is still not...

To avoid a 2016 crash, the major powers need to pull in the same direction

Jan 13, 2016 15:33 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

It looks already as if 2016 will be a pivotal year for the world economy. RBS has advised investors to sell everything except for high-quality bonds as turmoil has returned to stock markets. The Dow Jones and SP indices...

US job openings increases to 5.43 million in November

Jan 13, 2016 05:49 am UTC| Commentary Economy

The job openings in the US grew to 5.43 million in November from Octobers reading of 5.35 million. The demand for manufacturing employment in the goods sector dropped where openings declined by 16,000 as compared with the...

India's inflation climbs, production in reverse gear on seasonal factors

Jan 13, 2016 02:37 am UTC| Commentary Economy

Indias inflation and production numbers out late Monday moved in opposite directions. CPI inflation rose 5.6% YoY in December 2015, above consensus and up from Novembers 5.4%. On the other hand, the November industrial...

Emerging Market Crisis Series

Disappointing year end data from Brazil carry over into 2016

Jan 12, 2016 22:43 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

Last year ended with unfavourable economic data. Activity indicators continue to post negative prints, surprising on the downside despite being at record lows already. The second year of low growth will remain a hurdle to...

China Crisis Series

China still acts as a deflationary or recessionary force in the global economy

Jan 12, 2016 21:12 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

From the latest data of China, one can conclude that Beijings stimulus seems to be working. The Chinese manufacturing PMI data released with negative numbers while service PMI data gave positive signals. Still in 2016,...

US small business optimism gains some ground in December

Jan 12, 2016 16:43 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

The NFIBs small business optimism index rose 0.4 points to 95.2 in December - recovering some of the ground lost in the prior month. Despite this, the index remained more than 5 points below the year-ago level. Looking...