Macroeconomics

Data released earlier this week showed that Swiss industrial growth slowed in October. Switzerland’s manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Manager’s Index), a reliable indicator of economic activity, fell from 53.1 in September to 52.3 last month. Anything above 50 indicates growth, on a monthly basis. A similar dip

China’s latest survey data, released earlier this week, showed a pick-up in economic activity in June, boosting Asian equity markets the same day that Beijing passed sweeping new security laws on Hong Kong. While China’s political manoeuvre was roundly decried by Western governments, its recent economic recovery has

Lebanon’s Parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, urged the government to call a “financial state of emergency” yesterday, as the Lebanese pound fell to a record low this week. An extreme dollar shortage has eroded the value of the currency, driving up the price of imports and wiping out household savings.

As Argentina’s debt restructuring talks enter their eleventh hour, there is a growing expectation that today’s deadline will be extended. The government and its creditors are inching towards a deal to reprofile roughly US$65 billion in sovereign debt that the country cannot afford to repay. President Fernandez’

In a bid to shore up the government’s limited fiscal resources, the Central Bank of Sudan recently awarded private gold merchants’ greater autonomy to sell to overseas markets. Until last month, Sudan’s Central Bank was the only formal channel for miners to export the precious metal. On January

With elections just over six months away, the release of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s autobiography, Sincerely, has sent Argentinian bond yields soaring. But why has the suggestion of a Fernandez presidency spooked the bondholder community? Ms Fernandez, who oversaw the country from 2007 to 2015, has not yet declared