Europe Economics Weekly Hawkish ECB, survey rebound continues Thursday’s ECB meeting confirmed that the Bank is a long way away from pivoting to looser policy. And the strong inflation print in November and rebound in activity surveys in December are only likely... 16th December 2022 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Wage growth strong; recession underway Policymakers may have taken some heart from the latest data published by Indeed which suggests that wage growth has started to edge down. However, wage growth is still very strong and other measures... 9th December 2022 · 7 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly SNB and Norges Bank to hike on “Super Thursday” We expect the Norges Bank and Swiss National Bank to raise interest rates next Thursday, by 25bp and 50bp respectively, bringing an end to the tightening cycle for the SNB and getting close to the end... 9th December 2022 · 6 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Tweaking our forecast for Switzerland With recent data suggesting that the Swiss economy is holding up better than we had anticipated, we now think GDP will be unchanged in 2023 compared to this year. That would still imply a weaker... 2nd December 2022 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Tide turning or false dawn? The first fall in inflation for seventeen months suggests that the headline rate may now have peaked. However, this is far from certain, and in any case core inflation did not fall and is likely to... 2nd December 2022 · 8 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly 75bp hike still on the table, QT talk intensifying Comments by ECB officials suggest that a slowdown in the pace of tightening, from a 75bp to a 50bp hike, still looks likely in December. But it’s not yet a done deal, with some officials seemingly... 25th November 2022 · 9 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Riksbank risks; Norway’s labour market tight The Riksbank’s 75bp hike on Thursday, together with the increases to its interest rates forecasts, highlighted policymakers’ concerns about inflation. Meanwhile, data from Norway emphasized the... 25th November 2022 · 7 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Norway performing well, Ingves bows out Norway’s Q3 GDP data support our view that the country will be one of Europe’s best performers in the coming quarters, but it won’t be immune to the weakness elsewhere in the continent. Next week, we... 18th November 2022 · 5 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Recession to begin in Q4 as inflation broadens We doubt that the recent strength in some of the official euro-zone activity data will last. The timelier surveys unanimously point to weaker activity to come, and the headwinds to growth from rising... 18th November 2022 · 8 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Construction cooling, fiscal rules and pivots We think euro-zone financial markets are getting ahead of themselves if they are sensing an imminent “pivot” by the ECB following the lower-than-expected US CPI number released yesterday. Indeed, we... 11th November 2022 · 9 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Housing risks rising; strong activity in Sweden Policymakers at the Riksbank and Norges Bank face a tricky balancing act. The latest housing indicators from Sweden and Norway have been very weak, implying that prices will fall. But October’s... 11th November 2022 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Sifting through a week of ECB comments The raft of comments by ECB policymakers this week suggests that further rate hikes are on the horizon, but that the pace of tightening will slow soon. And with officials stressing how difficult it is... 4th November 2022 · 7 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Peak rates approaching in Norway, Switzerland The Norges Bank shifted to a slower pace of tightening this week, and the latest data on the housing market suggest that there are downside risks to our forecast for the policy rate to hit 3% and stay... 4th November 2022 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly ECB still a long way from a pivot This week’s data releases have done nothing to change our key calls on the euro-zone economy: that it is heading for a deeper recession and higher inflation than most expect, and that the ECB will be... 28th October 2022 · 9 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Slower growth, strong labour markets Data published this week showed that Sweden's economy performed better than expected in Q3, but the timelier surveys point to a contraction in Q4. Next week, the Norges Bank's rate decision will be a... 28th October 2022 · 6 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Swedish labour data point to further rate hikes Data for Sweden show that the labour market remained tight in September. Together with the recent strong inflation numbers this suggests that there are upside risks to our forecast that the Riskbank’s... 21st October 2022 · 7 mins read
