Wang Qionghui via Caixin | China is to impose new tax rules on cross-border e-commerce that experts say will increase the cost of many items such as food, health care products and low-price cosmetics.
Whilst many issues are being discussed in relation to the forthcoming European Union (EU) referendum in the UK, the issue of “sovereignty” is the one that divides the remain and leave camps. The highly respected think tank Open Europe, which is backing neither side, has made it clear that the economic effects of the two options are marginal in this report.
UBS | The oil price crash and ongoing volatility have created uncertainty and financial stress across the sector. An industry in ‘survival mode’ has manifested in major capex cuts and seen M&A activity collapse to 14 year lows.
The Institute of International Finance (IIF) has announced that the emerging economies attracted $36.8 billion dollars of international investment in March, with $17.9 billion earmarked for stock markets and $18.9 billion for bonds.
Peter Lundgreen via Caixin | My best guess is that more than 99 percent of all economic analyses from the end of 2015 predicted a higher GDP growth in France this year. I myself have since long been skeptical about the economic growth prospects for the Eurozone, including that of France.
UBS | Japanese policymakers have largely succeeded at generating cognitive dissonance rather than resolving the economy’s fundamental challenge. As a reminder it’s not just about achieving a 2% inflation target.
James Alexander via Historinhas | What is more important the short, medium or long term? The recent gyrations of the EUR/USD exchange rate have grabbed a lot of attention since the start of the year. In theory the strong easing bias of the ECB versus the confusing position of the Fed should mean the EUR weakens versus the USD
BoAML Research | The German government has not been overly active in investment expenditure over the last couple of decades. The average share of gross government investment spending in GDP stood at 2.1% in 2015 – private investment was worth roughly 18% of total GDP.
Yiannnis Mouzakis via Macropolis | Following Saturday’s leak of the exchange between the IMF’s European Department director Poul Thomsen and the head of the mission to Greece Delia Velculescu, PmAlexis Tsipras’s reading of the situation and his reaction to the WikiLeaks publication were puzzling.
UBS | Given the re-emerging importance of Iran, we spent time digging into the operating environment in Iran and speaking with oilmen on the ground there.