BoE Watch BoE Watch: UK rates to be cut slower but perhaps further than investors expect The Bank of England will almost certainly cut interest rates from 4.50% to 4.25% on Thursday 8th May. But we think the markets have got ahead of themselves in expecting interest rates to be cut by... 2nd May 2025 · 6 mins read
Equities Update Did the stock market just send another false recession signal? Paul Samuelson famously quipped in 1966 that the stock market had predicted nine of the last five recessions in the US. We suspect it just sent another false signal about an economic downturn. 2nd May 2025 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly ANZ Weekly: Inflation risks remain two-sided, Labor leads in polls With underlying inflation having returned to its 2-3% target range in Q1, the RBA is all but certain to cut rates by 25bp at its meeting later this month. However, given that timely data point to... 2nd May 2025 · 5 mins read
Japan Economics Weekly Japan Weekly: Bank of Japan too downbeat about inflation outlook The Bank of Japan slashed its GDP growth forecasts this week, arguing that global trade tensions are weighing on sentiment of households and firms. While consumer confidence has indeed plunged... 2nd May 2025 · 5 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Rapid Response Australia Retail Sales (Mar./Q1 2025) 2nd May 2025 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Outlook UK Housing Outlook: Housing relatively well insulated from Trump tariffs While the more uncertain global backdrop due to the new US tariffs regime means we have become more confident in our below-consensus UK GDP forecast, the prospect of falling mortgage rates suggests UK... 1st May 2025 · 17 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Money & Lending (Mar. 2025) March’s money and lending data suggest households were starting to spend more cautiously even before the full hit to consumer confidence from the heightened uncertainty caused by the new US tariffs... 1st May 2025 · 3 mins read
Japan Economics Update Bank of Japan will hike rates again before long The Bank of Japan revised down its growth forecasts and sounded more dovish when it left policy settings unchanged today. However, we believe that the Bank has become far too downbeat about the... 1st May 2025 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Weak housing market starting to weigh on inflation Stretched housing affordability continues to keep a lid on house price growth. And if we’re right that the RBA will only lower rates by another 50bp, it will remain a headwind. But with the housing... 1st May 2025 · 3 mins read
US Fed Watch US Fed Watch: Fed won’t cave to Trump pressure A contraction in GDP and near-flatlining in core PCE prices would usually be more than enough to persuade policymakers at the Fed to cut interest rates. Since those data precede the implementation of... 30th April 2025 · 7 mins read
US Rapid Response US Personal Income & Spending (Mar. 2025) The almost unchanged level of core PCE prices in March is welcome news but, given the data precede the implementation of broad-based tariffs, core inflation will inevitably rebound sharply in the... 30th April 2025 · 2 mins read
US Rapid Response US GDP (Q1) The 0.3% annualised decline in first-quarter GDP was entirely due to a pre-tariff 41.3% annualised surge in imports, with net exports subtracting a massive 4.8% points from GDP. This surge now appears... 30th April 2025 · 2 mins read
Canada Rapid Response Canada GDP (Feb. 2025) Although the 0.2% m/m contraction in GDP in February was worse than expected, the preliminary estimate of a partial rebound in March should soothe fears that the economy is rapidly falling into... 30th April 2025 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Rapid Response UK Nationwide House Prices (Apr. 2025) April’s bigger-than-expected 0.6% m/m fall in Nationwide house prices (consensus forecast 0.0% m/m, Capital Economics -0.1% m/m) isn’t too surprising as most of it probably reflects home purchases... 30th April 2025 · 3 mins read
Japan Economics Focus Japanese bank outperformance has a bit further to go Japanese banks are the one sector benefitting from the BoJ’s tightening cycle as higher interest rates lift their income by more than their expenses. And although they’ve struggled more recently amid... 30th April 2025 · 19 mins read
