Canadian existing home sales remain strong in April

May 15, 2015 18:15 pm UTC| Commentary

Canadian existing home sales rose 2.3% in April, pushing the year-over-year growth rate up to 10%. Over two thirds of the markets in Canada recorded annual increases during the month, with the Lower Mainland of British...

UK inflation also hovering around zero

May 15, 2015 18:01 pm UTC| Commentary

Updated projections in the Bank of Englands Inflation Report were on balance little changed from Feb, maintaining the expectation that inflation will hold around zero over the course of Q2 with a downside skew to the...

FOMC minutes unlikely to sate market’s appetite for policy clues

May 15, 2015 17:45 pm UTC| Commentary

With US data continuing to disappoint, the minutes of the April FOMC meeting (Wed) will be scoured for signs of dispersion in individual policymakers forward-looking assessments. But with the Committee as a whole in...

Tone of European data is expected to soften a little

May 15, 2015 17:27 pm UTC| Commentary

Despite the first estimate of Q1 GDP growth in the Eurozone outpacing that for the UK and US, it appears unlikely this will spill over into forward-looking activity indicators for Q2. Market attention is likely to focus on...

Weak U.S. headline retail sales masks underlying strength

May 15, 2015 16:58 pm UTC| Commentary

April US retail sales were flat, broadly in line with consensus (+0.2%) expectations. Overall the report was disappointing continuing a recent trend of disappointing sales. However, digging into the subcategories, there is...

Gilt market ‘rout’ poses little threat to UK economy

May 15, 2015 16:33 pm UTC| Commentary

The recent sharp rise in government bond yields, most pronounced at the long end, has fuelled concerns about its potential adverse impact on UK economy. After all, since it has not been accompanied by an increase in equity...

Weakness of U.S consumption in recent months may be more than just a temporary blip

May 15, 2015 15:56 pm UTC| Commentary

Even after the unexpectedly severe decline in the University of Michigans consumer confidence measure to a seven-month low of 88.6 in May, from 95.9, the index is still above its long-term average of 85.9. It is hard to...