Our Insights

Recent developments in China-Japan trade relations have drawn attention. Rare-earth elements, magnets, chemicals and technology-related components could be affected.

Our proprietary food index for Indonesia is providing a heads up for yet-to-be-released official inflation statistics – suggesting a sharp slowdown after a late 2025 price surge.

The EU reached a historic trade deal this month even as Donald Trump threatened to tariff European countries. After 25 years of talks, Mercosur – the 5-nation South American bloc led by Brazil and Argentina – signed a deal creating one of the largest free-trade areas in the world.

Donald Trump called off planned tariffs on European military allies that opposed his vow to acquire Greenland, but it's worth examining US trade relationships that were in the balance.

GDPNow has just seen another sudden revision: after US trade figures for October were released on Jan. 8, the nowcast was revised to a 5%-plus rate of real-time economic growth – a jump of two percentage points and a two-year high.

Christmas saw a weaker seasonal spending impulse across advanced economies. While households continued to spend through the year, the traditional end-of-year uplift narrowed materially, particularly for discretionary items such as electronics, clothing and sporting goods.

Christmas saw a weaker seasonal spending impulse across advanced economies. While households continued to spend through the year, the traditional end-of-year uplift narrowed materially, particularly for discretionary items such as electronics, clothing and sporting goods.

Indonesia's rupiah has been approaching all-time lows, driven by persistent fiscal concerns. It's worth observing how a long-time relationship is breaking down.

CEIC recently added thematic datasets on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China's signature international investment strategy.

Australian inflation is proving to be both sticky and widespread – prompting a relatively swift reversal of last year's easing stance by the central bank.

Silver has become a major story. Parallels can be drawn with gold's rise to records, but silver has even more industrial uses than its precious-metal counterpart – especially applications relevant to the green-energy transition.