China’s Q1 GDP may have decelerated to 6.9% y/y

Apr 09, 2015 21:42 pm UTC| Commentary

Chinas Q1 GDP growth will be releasing next week, which may have decelerating to 6.9% y/y from 7.3% in Q4 on softer housing investment, mixed foreign trade data and uneven domestic demand.Standard Chartered says in their...

US March retail sales may show consumers returned to shops

Apr 09, 2015 21:30 pm UTC| Commentary

US March retail sales data will help to gauge whether a spring rebound is on the cards. Private consumption data in January-February disappointed, partly due to the poor weather, but also because of US consumers reluctance...

IMF’s updated growth forecasts likely to be a mixed bag

Apr 09, 2015 21:06 pm UTC| Commentary

Next week attention will turn to Washington DC, where the IMF and World Bank spring meetings take place. The mood is likely to be guided by the IMFs updated macro projections as it releases its new World Economic...

Slow pace of recovery raises speculation of further monetary policy loosening by BoK

Apr 09, 2015 18:29 pm UTC| Commentary

The Bank of Korea (BoK) held its policy rate steady on Thursday, following a rate cut last month. Thursdays rate pause was expected by all 16 economists polled by Bloomberg ahead of the meeting.However, the decision to...

BoE rate rise is still some way off

Apr 09, 2015 18:16 pm UTC| Commentary

UK MPC left policy unchanged this month against a backdrop of looming deflation. The MPC will have seen a preview of Marchs inflation figures at its meeting and these could well have shown inflation falling from zero in...

UK construction output probably unchanged in Feb, industrial production probably increased slightly

Apr 09, 2015 18:04 pm UTC| Commentary

The volatile nature of UK construction output (09.30 BST) means that we could see a sharp rise in February after the fall in January. After all, the construction PMI has risen in the past couple of months.That said, it may...

Market expectations divided over the upcoming MAS policy meeting

Apr 09, 2015 17:50 pm UTC| Commentary

MAS is likely to ease monetary policy at the upcoming policy meeting on 14th April 2015 by re-centering the bands mid-point to below the prevailing level of S$NEER. Many market participants believe the MAS will instead...