Central Bank of Russia cuts policy rate by 150bp as inflation abates

May 01, 2015 00:27 am UTC| Commentary

The Central Bank of Russia continued its rate-cutting cycle and reduced its main policy rate by 150bp from 14% to 12.5%.Three fundamental reasons drove this decision: first, while inflation accelerated to 16.9% y/y in...

Next two weeks are key for Greece

Apr 30, 2015 23:15 pm UTC| Commentary

The Greek government will likely find the cash to make two coming payments to the IMF totalling c.EUR 950mn. The first payment is due on 6 May and the second payment on 12 May, one day after an official Eurogroup...

Singapore PMI likely contracted for a fifth consecutive month

Apr 30, 2015 22:27 pm UTC| Commentary

Singapore will release the April PMI on 4 May. The headline reading is expected to have eased to 49.5 from 49.6 in March and to have remained below the neutral 50 mark for a fifth consecutive month.The electronics index...

Indonesia's inflation likely to have picked up slightly in April

Apr 30, 2015 21:52 pm UTC| Commentary

Indonesias National Statistics Agency (BPS) will release April CPI data on 4 May.Headline inflation is expected to have picked up slightly to 0.4% m/m (6.8% y/y) from 0.2% m/m (6.4% y/y) in March, and expect core inflation...

CBR easing cycle likely to go on

Apr 30, 2015 19:05 pm UTC| Commentary

Today, the CBR cut the key rate by 150bp which exceeded consensus expectations (100bp), but fell short of the massive policy easing (200bp+) some had been advocating recently.Todays press release from the CBR is largely...

Bank of Japan is still likely to increase its monetary stimulus this year

Apr 30, 2015 18:53 pm UTC| Commentary

The Bank of Japan decided to leave policy settings unchanged at Thursdays meeting. While policymakers nudged down their growth and inflation forecasts, they still expect to hit the 2% inflation target in the first half of...

UK Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI may show signs of improvement in March

Apr 30, 2015 18:39 pm UTC| Commentary

Marchs Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI (09.30 BST) may provide further signs that the sectors recovery has turned a corner. Capital Economics forecasts a reading of 54.5.However, Marchs household borrowing figures (09.30...