By Reshma Kapadia
The popularity of bond offerings from El Salvador and Mongolia raise the question of whether a bubble is in the making, beyondbrics’ Pan Kwan Yuk writes. (My two cents: I think so).
Add Poland to the list of countries posting weak GDP growth today (Brazil and India would both fall into this camp). Poland’s economy logged its third straight quarterly deceleration, falling to its lowest level since 2009, the WSJ’s Marcin Sobcyzk and Patryk Wasilewski report.
Brazilian utility stocks like Centrais Electricas Brasileiras (ELET6.SA) logged their sharpest gains in years after the government increased compensation by 50% for utilities that pledge to cut electricity rates, Bloomberg’s Maria Luiza Rabello and Mario Sergio Lima report. Earlier, the compensation the government had offered had disappointed markets.
Turkey’s gold exports are rising, confirming that the country is swapping gold for Iranian gas to work around sanctions, WSJ’s Joe Parkinson reports.
Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto, who will be sworn in as the country’s president this weekend, is drawing many bulls to the country’s stock and bond markets. Count fixed income giant Pimco among the fans, given its 53% ownership of Mexico’s fixed-rate peso bond market, Bloomberg’s Eric Martin and Ben Bain report.
Foreign Affairs’ Lynette Ong takes a look at China’s construction industry and the reasons behind what it describes as its risky strategy.
As China begins to stress quality growth over quantity, Peterson Institute’s Nicholas Borst wonders if that means the country will begin to address its increasing income inequality.