Rest of world wishes for Australia’s economic woes

By Antony Currie

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

Listening to the Australians, you could be forgiven for thinking their economy is dead in the water – or about to be. The land Down Under has its problems, including a China-driven commodities downturn and an A$18 billion deficit ($17.9 billion) in this week’s budget announcement from Treasurer Wayne Swan, months after he projected a surplus. But the economy, now in its 22nd year of unbroken economic growth, still boasts the stability other countries only dream of.

Small-number fixation clouds euro zone picture

By Edward Hadas

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Germany is growing and France has suffered a double-dip recession. Wednesday’s GDP release has plenty to excite investors and analysts. But drawing big conclusions from tiny numbers in isolation can be dangerous.

Japan’s yield spike is no canary in the debt mine

By Andy Mukherjee

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

The recent spike in Japan’s bond yields is not a canary in the country’s debt mine. Though the yield on 10-year government bonds has almost doubled since the Bank of Japan announced its aggressive money-printing pledge on April 4, it’s still less than 0.9 percent. Before the 2008 financial crisis, yields were twice as high.

Bangladeshi accord shows limits of market forces

By Edward Hadas

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Tragedy can concentrate minds; minds can be more powerful than markets; globalisation can be a force for good. Those are the lessons of the success of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Abenomics pulls Japan from its post-Lehman slump

By Andy Mukherjee

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions?expressed are his own)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies have beaten back the Japanese economy’s post-Lehman blues. Breakingviews’ Abenomics Index was at its highest level in March since September 2008. And that was before the Bank of Japan launched its bold money-printing pledge.

Polls give strife-hit Pakistan a shot at stability

By Andy Mukherjee

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

Pakistan’s election may just give the troubled country a shot at stability. Investors will discount much of the hyperbole from political parties about the economic possibilities ahead. The question is whether the poll – the first proper democratic transfer of power in Pakistan’s history – can provide stable, effective leadership that keeps the army out of politics while uniting the country in dealing with Taliban-sponsored sectarian violence.

Three-digit yen no longer a one-way bet

By Andy Mukherjee
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The yen is no longer a one-way bet. The Japanese currency has slumped to 100 against the dollar for the first time in four years. That’s a 16 percent slide since Shinzo Abe’s landslide election victory in December. At the time, Breakingviews predicted his victory would herald a three-digit yen. But there are good reasons to be sceptical about a further decline.

India’s bickering lawmakers test investors’ faith

By Andy Mukherjee

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

The $12 billion foreign investors have poured into Indian equities this year is not a gift: it’s a bet that Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram will keep his promise to lift the country’s GDP growth from its 10-year low. But the government can’t deliver without lawmakers doing their part. The problem is that India’s national parliament, never a bastion of efficiency, has simply stopped working.

Man Utd about to discover Fergie’s true worth

By Peter Thal Larsen

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Alex Ferguson’s retirement should worry Manchester United’s fans and investors as much as it delights long-suffering rivals. His triumphant 26-year reign has gone hand-in-hand with the soccer club’s equally impressive financial rise. Ferguson’s departure will reveal how much of that value depends on the manager.

UK minus EU is another loser from Lawson

By Ian Campbell

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Nigel Lawson is back in the ring and as sharp as ever. The UK chancellor who dismissed his critics as “teenage scribblers” in the 1980s – as he fomented a housing bubble that weighed on the economy for half a decade – is now throwing his weight behind a UK exit from the EU. It will make Britain stronger, he jabs. Someone should throw in his towel.