Economy
US corporate bonds performed well last year with both investment grade and high-yield spreads narrowing in 2023. Indeed, the 12-month breakeven spreads are relatively low – especially in the case of investment grade. This means that corporates have a…
The best leading indicator for post-pandemic US wage inflation is the ratio of job vacancies to ‘bad’ unemployment (V/U), where bad unemployment refers to ‘job losers not on temporary layoff’. This ratio has already declined from 6.4 to 4.1 and wage…
According to BCA Research’s Emerging Markets Strategy service, the recent improvement in global manufacturing and Asian exports will likely prove to be a mid-cycle amelioration rather than a cyclical recovery. Global trade/manufacturing is the key driver…
We update our inflation forecast following this morning’s CPI report.
The combined US credit impulse and fiscal thrust indicator will likely relapse in 2024, heralding growth weakness. Stalling US sales volume and falling inflation, combined with sticky labor costs, will herald a non-trivial profit margin compression. The recent increase in Asian exports will likely prove to be a mid-cycle improvement rather than a cyclical recovery.
Australian CPI inflation fell from 4.9% y/y to a 22-month low of 4.3% y/y in November – slightly below expectations of 4.4%. Underlying measures of core inflation also indicate that price pressures eased in November. The rate of growth in CPI excluding…
Taiwan’s December trade data corroborates the signal from other Asian exporters (such as South Korea) that global manufacturing activity is experiencing a mini revival. Taiwanese exports surged by 11.8% y/y last month, surprising expectations of a much tamer…
The Atlanta Fed’s US Wage Growth Tracker stalled at 5.2% in December, unchanged from November. Notably, after falling from a peak of 7.1% in June 2022, this indicator has stabilized at still-elevated levels in recent months. This dynamic raises the question…
Crude oil prices weakened following the release of the US EIA’s weekly report on Wednesday, reversing gains earlier in the session and ultimately ending the day lower. The data release showed commercial crude inventories unexpectedly rose by 1.3 million…
According to BCA Research’s Geopolitical Strategy service, hypo-globalization is the best way to understand the global trade environment. But de-globalization is more likely than re-globalization. A period of “hyper-globalization” occurred after the Cold…