UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Past the worst? The further fall in GDP in May provided yet another excuse to talk down the UK economy. But there is some evidence that we are past the worst and the situation will improve from here (or, at the least... 11th July 2025 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Market jitters increase the chances of further tax rises While this week's gilt-sterling sell-off was short-lived, it's left a gloomy cloud over the one-year anniversary of the government's election victory. If the Chancellor is going to continue to meet... 4th July 2025 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Revising down our Bank Rate forecast to 3.00% Helped in part by the decline in energy prices, this week we have become more confident that the recent loosening in the labour market will eventually reduce domestic price pressures. As a result, we... 27th June 2025 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Oil price risk to inflation, infrastructure spending hype With UK inflation still some way above the 2.0% target, it probably wouldn’t require the conflict in the Middle East to cause a leap in the oil price all the way to $130-150 per barrel to prompt the... 20th June 2025 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Chancellor’s fingers are all over weak employment The Chancellor would have hoped that her Spending Review would leave us all talking about how her policies have improved the economic outlook. Instead, the most striking development of the week was... 13th June 2025 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Three things to watch in the Spending Review Next week’s Spending Review will shine a light on the UK’s tight fiscal position. And the Chancellor’s problems are far from over. U-turns on benefit and welfare spending and higher borrowing costs... 6th June 2025 · 9 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Evidence pointing to a weak Q2 UK GDP growth will almost certainly slow in Q2 after Q1’s bumper rise, irrespective of the outcome of the US tariff legal saga. Falls in business investment and exports will probably offset rises in... 30th May 2025 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Inflation higher for longer; further tax rises incoming The prospect of higher inflation for longer raises the chances of interest rates falling slower than we expect. Together with the government's announcements this week on the public sector pay rises... 23rd May 2025 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: EU reset + migration policy = no change to GDP growth The upcoming UK-EU reset may boost the UK’s long-term economic growth rate by something like 0.1%. But the government’s new migration policies may reduce it by something like 0.1%. So what the... 16th May 2025 · 9 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: UK-US trade deal not a game changer; BoE’s hawkish shift We have argued that higher US tariffs wouldn’t reduce UK GDP by much. It follows that the UK-US trade deal won’t be a game changer. We also argued that investors had got ahead of themselves in... 9th May 2025 · 9 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Housing market adds to the downside risks to activity We suspect that the recent slowdown in house prices this year is temporary. But while it is not our base case, a weaker housing market for longer would add to the downside risks to our already below... 2nd May 2025 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Are the markets expecting too many rate cuts? While the deteriorating outlook for activity increases the chances of the Bank of England continuing to cut interest rates at its recent pace of one 25 basis point cut every quarter, which translates... 25th April 2025 · 3 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: It’s no longer all about services CPI inflation We’ve become more convinced that the new US tariff regime will reduce inflation in the UK, not least because there are some early signs that goods originally destined for the US are being “dumped” in... 17th April 2025 · 7 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Risks tilting towards weaker GDP and faster falls in inflation The extraordinary tariff chaos over the past week and associated fallout in the financial markets have increased the chances that the damage to the UK from the US trade war will be larger and that... 11th April 2025 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Trump’s tariffs not a game changer for the UK It’s clear the markets have concluded that Trump’s tariffs have increased the downside risks to activity that the Bank of England is worried about. But the uncertain influence of tariffs on CPI... 4th April 2025 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly UK Weekly: Fiscal risks much bigger than tariff risks While the possibility of more US tariffs on UK exports will dominate next week, the bigger risk over the next six months or so comes from the unfinished fiscal business after the Chancellor’s fiscal... 28th March 2025 · 5 mins read
