Although Italy possesses a useful and not insignificant visible trade surplus, the country is nevertheless continuing to suffer from persistent and we might suggest remarkably large capital account deficits as its domestic savers by and large continue to shun the local asset markets

Our starting point for this year was that global growth would be ‘satisfactory’ and that it would once again be led primarily by China’s continuing import boom.

Economist Andrew Hunt has spent 10-days on the road talking to managers and economists. Here's what he found out about the state of the global economy - and his views on the all important Chinese economy.

The economics profession has always struggled to define the notion of value – and not only within the narrow context of the financial markets!

Perhaps the biggest surprise that emanated from this week’s trip to North America has been the extent to which the topic of secular stagnation has come back onto the agenda, despite all the excitement over the prospect for as yet unfortunately still undefined tax cuts by the Trump Administration.

Over the last two months or so, we have travelled quite widely and one factor that has stood out during our travels has been the ongoing and seemingly widespread relative weakness in household income trends.

It has been our firm contention that financial market liquidity has been booming over the nine months or so, albeit for what might be described as technical rather than strictly official policy reasons.

As the PBoC tightens its lending stance and as a result China's banks are experiencing a constraint on their ability to expand their assets, international economist Andrew Hunt examines what the repercussions could be not only for China, but also world markets

President Trump apparently opted for a more measured tone in his first address to Congress but we are beginning to wonder if his economic policy can be summarised as being an intention to launch a large fiscal expansion behind not just a physical wall but a tariff one as well.

Faced with jetlag and having reached saturation with CNBC and CNN in the hotel room, I found myself watching an out-of- sorts Andy Murray playing in a match that on paper he would have been expected to win.

Whether by luck or design, when I first entered the world of applied economics during the mid-1980s, I decided that I would like to specialize in covering central banks and in studying the flows that these institutions could create within financial systems and the real economies of the world.

International economist Andrew Hunt looks at what US President-elect Donald Trump has promised and how quickly he can make changes to things like Dodd Frank and ObamaCare. In this piece Hunt also looks at what it means for bond markets. 

Economist Andrew Hunt looks at the prospect of rising inflation and what it means for the global economy. He suggests if inflation rates do rise bond markets may well be caught ‘off-guard’ over the next few months.