Our Insights

Brazil is the dominant player in the global soybean trade after a surge in production in recent decades. It's the world's largest producer and exporter of this crop, and has become China's key supplier.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (often referred to by the acronym GBA) is one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. With almost 90 million people, the region stretches far beyond Hong Kong and the historic hub of Guangzhou; adjacent cities including Dongguan and Foshan have boomed alongside their manufacturing industries.

With Donald Trump's on again, off-again tariff policies disrupted by a court ruling, we've assembled a dashboard compiling market-based indicators compiling the effect of his policies on various asset classes - from stocks to fund flows and gold.

Britons are wondering why their inflation has been so much stickier than many other nations. Recent figures showed price increases surprisingly picked up in April, reaching a 3.5% year-on-year pace and confounding expectations of a slowdown

As official trade data for April starts rolling in, it's clear that southeast Asia's exporting nations ramped up shipments in response to Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. CEIC users had an early nod about this phenomenon thanks to daily shipping data from Marine Traffic.

Donald Trump has driven a rush at China's container ports. With exporters keen to get ahead of announced US tariffs and potential future escalation, weekly shipping figures are showing that container throughput in 2025 has been significantly above the 2024 trend. Traffic especially picked up in April, when the US president announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs. (At the time of publication, the US and China had agreed to significantly reduce tariffs imposed just weeks before on each other's goods.)

The US had a golden era of housing affordability in the wake of the global financial crisis. Today, first-time homebuyers are having the toughest time in decades - a three-year-old phenomenon that seems unlikely to change soon.

We're revisiting the Philippines economy in more depth. Last week's growth disappointment followed a rate cut and turn to dovish messaging by the nation's central bank.

CEIC's latest weekly nowcast offerings include national financial account balances. We've chosen to visualize Singapore; our proprietary model analyzes high-frequency variables to "predict the present" for financial flows in and out of Southeast Asia's financial hub.

As oil prices flirt with post-pandemic lows, we're exploring the relationship between crude (and other commodities) and the business cycle. Oil prices have a habit of cascading through global supply chains; to show how this is the case, we've charted the relationship between Brent crude and producer inflation (PPI) across major economies over the past two decades.

US 10-year Treasury yields have been testing their 2025 highs, reaching 4.5% again. This is largely linked to the uncertain inflation outlook stemming from Donald Trump's tariffs and a relatively hawkish stance by the Federal Reserve.

The Philippines' central bank recently cut interest rates by a quarter-point and has signaled another 75 basis points of easing could come this year. While inflation continues to slow, policymakers are also likely considering weakening economic indicators across the economy and elevated personal debt burdens. (This was also reflected in the recent GDP growth print that missed economists' expectations.)