Economic focus

SA consumer inflation slightly higher than expected in January at 6.3%y/y (posted 22/02/2012)
SA leading economic indicator fell in December, after rising for three consecutive months (posted 22/02/2012)
SA Kagiso PMI much better than expected in January 2012, rising to 53.2 (posted 02/02/2012)
SA private sector credit rose a little more than expected in December, up 6.2%y/y (posted 31/01/2012)
SA price of petrol to rise by 34 cents per litre on Wednesday, 1 February 2012 (posted 30/01/2012)
SA leading economic indicator rose for the third consecutive month in November 2011 (posted 24/01/2012)
SA consumer inflation below expectations in December 2011 (posted 18/01/2012)
SA Kagiso PMI fell more than expected to 49.4 in December 2011 (posted 18/01/2012)
SA retail sales fell by a disappointing 0.3%m/m in November 2011 (posted 18/01/2012)
SA manufacturing production for November 2011 much better than expected (posted 12/01/2012)
SA created 59 000 formal sector jobs in Q3 2011: still not enough (posted 13/12/2011)
South African household wealth rose by R509 billion in 2010, to a record R5.313 trillion (posted 12/12/2011)
SA manufacturing activity plunged by 3.6%m/m in October, well below expectations (posted 08/12/2011)
SA current account deficit widened to 3.8% of GDP in Q3 2011 (posted 08/12/2011)
SA retail sales grew by a respectable 7.4%y/y in October (posted 07/12/2011)
SA credit growth remained very subdued in October, up only 5.5%y/y (posted 05/12/2011)
SA electricity consumption has slowed appreciably during 2011, declining by 0.8%y/y in October 2011 (posted 02/12/2011)
SA trade balance recorded the largest trade deficit since January 2009 (posted 01/12/2011)

US employment monitor February 2012: further improvement in labour market conditions (posted 22/02/2012)
US leading economic indicator rose for the 4th consecutive month in January 2012 (posted 20/02/2012)
Greece austerity deal finally approved, positive for markets (posted 13/02/2012)
US weekly jobless claims moved convincingly lower again this week (posted 10/02/2012)
US employment data much better than expected in January 2012 (posted 06/02/2012)
US employment monitor January 2012: 11 of the 14 variables are showing a positive or improving trend (posted 02/02/2012)
US GDP slightly lower than expected in Q4 2011, but still up a respectable 2.8%q/q (posted 30/01/2012)
US FOMC: interest rates to remain unchanged until at least late 2014 (posted 27/01/2012)
IMF revised down their world growth forecast, including SA, for 2012 and 2013 (posted 25/01/2012)
Euro-area: the LTRO is not a fundamental solution, but appears to be helping (posted 24/01/2012)
US GDP consensus forecast for 2012 revised up again in January (posted 16/01/2012)
Chinese Inflation falls further (posted 13/01/2012)
Strong signs of inflation easing in emerging markets in 2012 (posted 12/01/2012)
Nigeria off to a rocky start in 2012 (posted 10/01/2012)
Italy 10-year bond yield above 7% at the start of 2012 (posted 09/01/2012)
EU Summit: not an especially convincing set of measures. Market uncertainty remains (posted 12/12/2011)
US household wealth fell by a further $2.4 trillion in Q3 2011, but the consumer is still worth a massive $57.4 trillion (posted 09/12/2011)
ECB decided to cut rates by 25bps to 1.00%, in-line with expectations (posted 08/12/2011)
India continues to slow, some broad similarities with SA (posted 08/12/2011)
US employment rose by a respectable 120 000 jobs in November (posted 05/12/2011)
Growth in world trade continued to slow in September 2011 (posted 02/12/2011)
China has announced a 50bp cut in the reserve requirement for banks (posted 01/12/2011)
World central banks have announced a co-ordinated initiative to increase global liquidity (posted 01/12/2011)

STANLIB Interesting Chart #68: SA export volumes vs. export prices (posted 31/01/2012)
Stanlib Interesting Chart #67: credit rating for emerging Asia is moving convincingly higher (posted 30/01/2012)
STANLIB Interesting Chart #66: why China cares deeply about what happens in the EU (posted 12/01/2012)
STANLIB Interesting Chart #65: Rand the worst performing EM currency in 2011 (posted 09/01/2012)
STANLIB Interesting Chart #64: ECB bought cumulative €183 bln of government bonds since early 2010 (posted 14/11/2011)
STANLIB Interesting Chart #63: Greek banks' deposit base decline dramatically in the past 18 months (posted 14/11/2011)
STANLIB Interesting Chart #62: China - world's largest consumer of energy at 20.3% of global demand (posted 03/10/2011)

SA consumer inflation up at 6% in October, higher than expected (posted 24/11/2011)
SA PPI lower than expected in October, helped by a seasonal decline in electricity prices (posted 25/11/2011)
SA Rand exchange rate is, once again, the worst performing emerging market currency (posted 25/11/2011)
SA GDP grew by a very modest 1.4%q/q in Q3 2011, below market expectations (posted 29/11/2011)
US house prices declined more than expected in September 2011 (posted 29/11/2011)
US ADP private sector survey reflects a gain of 206 000 jobs in November (posted 30/11/2011)
US ADP private sector survey shows a gain of 110 000 jobs in October (posted 03/11/2011)
SA vehicle sales registered strong gains in October 2011 (posted 03/11/2011)
SA's unemployment rate eased to 25% in Q3 2011 (posted 03/11/2011)
Germany lost 10 000 jobs in October, first decline since early 2010 (posted 03/11/2011)
US created 80 000 jobs in October, slightly less than expected (posted 07/11/2011)
Greece PM survived the confidence vote, but likely to resign after new coalition government is decided (posted 08/11/2011)
ECB opted to cut interest rates by 25bps in a surprise decision (posted 08/11/2011)
SA credit rating revised down by Moody's to to A3 negative from A3 stable (posted 09/11/2011)
SA manufacturing activity rose modestly in the month of September (posted 10/11/2011)
SA Reserve Bank decided to leave the Repo rate unchanged at 5.50% (posted 11/11/2011)
SA National Planning Commission released their National Development Plan (posted 14/11/2011)
US GDP rose by an encouraging 2.5%q/q in Q3 2011, in-line with expectations (posted 31/10/2011)
SA PPI higher than expected in September at 10.5%y/y - highest level since December 2008 (posted 31/10/2011)
Euro-area support package for Greece and the expansion of the EFSF (posted 28/10/2011)
SA MTBPS 2011 represents a reality check for government (posted 26/10/2011)
SA leading indicator continues to lose momentum, declining by a substantial 2.1%m/m in August (posted 25/10/2011)
Euro-area GDP growth is forecast at a mere 1% in 2012, and the downside risks are very high (posted 21/10/2011)
SA retail sales better than expected in August 2011, growing by 7.1%y/y (posted 20/10/2011)
SA consumer inflation higher than expected in September at 5.7%y/y (posted 19/10/2011)
US retail sales much better than expected in September, and August data revised noticeably higher (posted 19/10/2011)
US consensus GDP forecast for Q3 is currently 2.0%q/q, but recent data suggests some upside risk to the forecast (posted 19/10/2011)
Euro-area: updated breakdown of GDP by country, highlighting the size of the smaller economies (posted 17/10/2011)
SA vehicle sales registered surprisingly strong gains in September 2011 (posted 05/10/2011)
SA price of petrol to rise by 36 cents per litre this week (posted 05/10/2011)
US ISM manufacturing index higher than expected in September 2011 at 51.6 (posted 04/10/2011)
SA recorded an encouraging improvement in the September Kagiso PMI to slightly above 50 (posted 03/10/2011)