Today’s VUCA landscape (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) is having a profound impact on consumers as well as companies. All of us are grappling with 3 key trends in our lives: • Life is too busy, particularly for women juggling home and work • Technology has become too complex for most of us to understand • […]
Chemicals and the Economy
A day at the London Olympics
The blog has spent today at the Olympic Park. The athletes, atmosphere and buildings are quite amazing – everything said about the event is true. Above is a picture of the Aquatic centre, before the heats began this morning. Left, is a picture of a Dutch Olympian, wearing their most striking uniform. A word is […]
Boom/Gloom Index stalls as outlook weakens
Fundamentals eventually determine financial market directions. But sentiment, when supported by strong financial flows, can take them in opposite directions for considerable periods of time. Thus the latest IeC Boom/Gloom Index continues to do its job of charting the battle that is underway: • The Index itself (blue column) weakened in July • Similarly, the […]
US chemicals barometer signals slowing economy
The blog’s latest post for the Financial Times’ ‘FT Data blog’ has just been published. It highlights the ACC’s new Chemicals Activity Barometer. By guest contributor Paul Hodges I suggested in an earlier post that chemical prices were an excellent leading indicator for the health of the global economy. The data highlighted that firms were […]
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