Moderate GDP growth amid uncertainty over policy changes complicates the economic outlook for the remainder of 2010. But we think strong gains in corporate operating profits offer the best guide for the economy’s basic trend, as long as regulatory and policy issues are cleared up as soon as possible. 7/23/2010

The Bank of Canada has begun raising rates after a one-year “conditional commitment” to hold rates at record lows. Have the markets fully priced the predictable but delayed rate hikes now emerging? 7/16/2010

The governments of these two Latin American countries have chosen populism and power over globalization and economic integration. Venezuela appears to be the more vulnerable. 7/23/2010

In our last report, we argued that recent evidence of China’s economic rebalancing largely boils down to cyclical factors and that the effect of structural changes to date has been relatively limited. In this issue, we focus on the structural policies we think China needs to create a consumer sector comparable to those of other major world economies. 7/23/2010

Spain is still running a substantial current account deficit and the financing environment remains hostile. Foreign borrowing is likely to fall further as the government starts to cut its massive budget deficit. Fortunately, the household sector is now running a huge financial surplus which could act as a cushion against aggressive fiscal tightening. 7/16/2010

In contrast to the fiscal woes of Greece and other peripheral euro-area countries, the budgetary positions of Australia and New Zealand tell a tale of fiscal prudence—as highlighted by the national budgets released last month. 6/11/2010