Korean supplementary budget likely to follow within a few weeks
Jun 11, 2015 10:43 am UTC| Commentary
The Korean government is expected to announce a plan for a supplementary budget this month, to be included in the second-half economic policy guidelines. Monetary easing through the BoK rate cut and fiscal easing through a...
MERS key driver of BoK rate cut in June
Jun 11, 2015 10:36 am UTC| Commentary
Concerns on the negative impacts of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) provide further support for the additional monetary and fiscal easing measures that was already anticipated from BoK before the MERS outbreak. The...
MERS may be more serious for Korea than SARS, swine flu or the Sewol ferry disaster
Jun 11, 2015 10:25 am UTC| Commentary
The outbreak of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) has suddenly become a key downside risk to the near-term outlook for the Korean economy. The first case of MERS in Korea was reported on 20 May. As of 11 June, there...
China's real activity data remain soft, with FAI lagging behind
Jun 11, 2015 10:14 am UTC| Commentary
Chinas May real activity data remained soft in general, in line with market expectations. Industrial production (IP) growth edged up to 6.1% y/y from 5.9% (consensus: 6.0%) a further improvement from 5.6% in March, but is...
US equity positioning neutral: HFs o/w and MFs u/w
Jun 11, 2015 09:51 am UTC| Commentary
The composite equity positioning measure shows that fund exposure to US equities has risen since early May and is back at average levels. Macro HF and long-short equity HF positioning is notably above average, while mutual...
USDA revises forecast for wheat production in the US, Russia and Ukraine upwards
Jun 11, 2015 09:37 am UTC| Commentary
The estimates of global wheat production and demand in 2015/16 (WASDE report) published yesterday by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) came as something of a surprise. The estimate of global wheat production was...
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust fell to the lowest level since the Lehman collapse
Jun 11, 2015 09:31 am UTC| Commentary
Gold increased for a time to a weekly high of over $1,190 per troy ounce on the back of a weaker US dollar, though it is currently trading below this level again. The debt crisis in Greece also appears to be lending...
Canadians are feeling increasingly powerless amid economic struggles and rising inequality
Another election, another round of Nigel Farage hype, with no lessons learned