Catalonia on the road to independence?

Sep 25, 2015 19:10 pm UTC| Commentary

Next Sundays regional elections in Catalonia have assumed the role of an independence referendum, something that the Spanish government has so far refused to countenance. Undecided Catalan voters could affect the outcome...

Currency War Series

Currency wars or currency woes?

Sep 25, 2015 18:01 pm UTC| Commentary

On the back of Chinas devaluation of the CNY on August 11, there has been a revival in speculation as to whether the world faces another wave of currency wars. There is still an incentive for some central banks to favour a...

Chinese rebalancing feels like a hard landing for the world

Sep 25, 2015 17:09 pm UTC| Commentary

There is a lot of focus on the risk of a Chinese hard landing at the moment and whether China can avoid such a scenario. While China may not experience a hard landing in terms of the overall growth rate collapsing, Chinas...

US Q2 GDP revised up again as economy surpasses expectations

Sep 25, 2015 16:17 pm UTC| Commentary Economy

The U.S. GDP Q2 number was revised from 3.7 percent to 3.9 percent, beating expectations and showing that the U.S. economy had grown faster than expected. This robust GDP number was mainly attributed to high construction...

The Fed's outlook for growth through the rest of the year is pessimistic, dollar drag likely

Sep 25, 2015 15:25 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks

The latest Fed projection for 2015 4Q YoY GDP growth was a surprisingly low 2.1%. Given what we know about growth in the first and second quarter of this year, we can back out the implied average growth rate for the second...

University of Michigan consumer sentiment revised up in late September

Sep 25, 2015 15:18 pm UTC| Commentary

The University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment was revised up in the final September estimate, to 87.2 from the mid-month preliminary estimate of 85.7. The revision was in line with forecast (87.0) and modestly...

US Q2 GDP: Consumption continues to outperform

Sep 25, 2015 15:14 pm UTC| Commentary

The third estimate of Q2 GDP revised up growth to 3.9% q/q saar, a bit above forecast and consensus expectations for an unchanged headline reading of 3.7%. Better consumer spending on services boosted real private...