Research & Insight

The mid-March decision by Brazil's central bank to keep the SELIC rate on hold came as a surprise to the market where expectations were for a hike of as much as 75bps. Consumer and wholesale prices have been ticking up and the economy has recovered quite quickly from what has proved to be a rather modest recession last year.

Violence broke out in Bangkok over the weekend. The “red shirts", a combination of parties supportive of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister, and those in favour of a democratic sharing of power beyond the traditional business elite, have been camped in the centre of Bangkok for nearly a month. They have been demanding that the Prime Minister step down and call elections to legitimise the government.

Tragedy struck Poland this weekend as a plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and several other senior government officials crashed in Western Russia killing 96 people. The plane was on its way to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish soldiers at the hands of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently described as the former Soviet Union’s “totalitarian regime”.

Within the Chinese industrialization process, the auto industry has played a significant role. It has been one of China’s pillar industries and since the 1990s, the government’s supportive infrastructure developments and policies have ensured China’s auto industry has developed rapidly.

The phrase “every cloud has a silver lining” can be traced way back to 1634 to John Milton’s masque “Comus”. Over 350 years later, as the global economy struggles to emerge from the deepest recession since World War II, silver linings are in short supply for investors. Investment portfolio values have been severely impaired by a decade of stagnant equity prices and pension shortfalls are now the rule rather than exception. Therefore, many investors now need to invest in assets that generate a higher return than their benchmark. With paltry global interest rates and inflationary fears fuelling growing concerns over the future direction of bond prices, asset allocation has never been more difficult.