Economy weak, inflation expectations eased May’s euro-zone business and consumer survey from the European Commission shows a small improvement in sentiment, but the data are still consistent with the economy struggling. And the price expectations indices …
27th May 2025
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused grain prices to surge to record levels in 2022, but a peace deal won’t lead to large falls in prices. This is mainly because Ukrainian grain production has already largely recovered from the war-related disruption. …
The well-known quality issues with the UK’s labour market data might well extend to some of the other UK economic data. This matters as it could have a critical bearing on policy decisions and lead to economic growth and inflation that is either too high …
European residential property outperformed all-property for the third consecutive year in 2024 and our updated forecasts suggest that this will continue over the coming five years. Returns were especially strong in the Netherlands, but going forward we …
The bulk of the evidence suggests that the recent sharp slowdown in regular earnings growth is a statistical anomaly rather than genuine. With this year’s spring wage negotiations resulting in the fastest pay hikes in decades, we still expect the Bank of …
Although the détente in the trade war may provide some respite to the Chinese economy in the near term, we remain pessimistic about its longer run prospects. The slowdown in China will undoubtedly have negative spillovers for Australia’s mining sector, …
BoI leaves rates on hold, timeline for easing slipping back The Bank of Israel (BoI) left its policy rate unchanged as expected at 4.50% again today, but the accompanying communications took a slightly more hawkish tone on inflation. We think the easing …
26th May 2025
Over to the Senate The House passed its “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation on Thursday, which extends the 2018 Trump tax cuts beyond this year, raises the personal exemption for retirees, and eliminates taxes on tips and overtime pay. To …
23rd May 2025
President Trump’s recommendation of a 50% tariff on the EU gave the dollar only a short-lived boost and the DXY index is still on track to snap a four-week ‘winning’ streak. This looks likely to be the largest weekly decline since early April and, as was …
How concerning is underlying inflation? The removal of the carbon tax pushed headline inflation down to 1.7% in April, comfortably in the bottom half of the Bank of Canada’s 1% to 3% target range. Nonetheless, the acceleration of the Bank’s preferred …
Still some bright areas of the housing market Despite various headwinds and weakness elsewhere in the housing market, new home sales grew strongly in April. We do not expect that this strength will be maintained throughout the year, though, as recovering …
Donald Trump jolted markets on Friday with a threat to slap steep tariffs on the EU. Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing jumped back on the podcast to join David Wilder and unpack whether this is classic brinkmanship – or something more serious. In the …
Copom: one final hike? Brazil’s Q1 GDP data due next Friday should show that the economy recorded strong growth in Q1, supporting the case for the central bank to deliver one final hike in this cycle. Having slowed sharply at the end of last year, …
RBI to transfer record dividend The RBI today announced a dividend transfer of INR2.7trn (US$34bn, 0.8% of GDP) to the Finance Ministry for FY24/25 (which ended in March). This is a record amount in both INR terms and relative to GDP, and exceeds the …
Assessing the fallout after a busy election weekend Last Sunday was a busy day of voting in CEE and threw out some surprises. Pro-EU centrist Nicusor Dan won the second round of Romania’s presidential election, even though he’d lagged in the polls. …
ECB account reveals disagreement The account of last month’s ECB meeting, published on Thursday, showed diverging views on the risks to inflation and the appropriate monetary policy stance. It noted that “a few” members of the Governing Council “could …
US-EU brinkmanship highlights risks President Trump’s threat of a 50% tariff from 1 st June may well turn out to be a negotiating tactic and seems very unlikely to be where tariffs settle over the long run. But if it were implemented it could result in a …
Tariff front-running supports retail sales The jump in motor vehicle sales in March suggests that tariff front-running has supported consumption, although the big picture is that retail sales were strong in most of the key sectors. Likewise, the …
The headline news this week was the bigger-than-expected leap in CPI inflation from 2.6% in March to 3.5% in April. (See here .) It would be easy to conclude that most of the increase was due to one-off price rises that will stay in the inflation rate for …
SA budget merely presses pause on fiscal debate South Africa’s finance minister appears to have succeeded – at the third time of asking – at delivering a 2025 Budget that will make it through parliament. But it seems almost certain that tensions within …
Fewer exports to US but more to other markets Chinese exports have so far held up much better than many had feared in response to US tariffs. In dollar terms they expanded a robust 8.1% in April . And there are few signs of weakness this month. Growth in …
This report is part of our Future of Europe series. Read more analysis, explore the supporting data, and learn about our broader European coverage on the dedicated Future of Europe page. Germany’s historic shift to looser fiscal policy will give the …
Note: we will be discussing oil, gold, industrial metals, and more in an online briefing on Wednesday 4th June at 3pm BST. You can register here . Not a literal Golden Dome… Gold bugs’ hearts will have skipped a beat when President Trump announced the …
MAS to loosen policy further GDP in Singapore contracted by 0.6% q/q last quarter according to the second estimate of national accounts figures published on Thursday. While this marked a slight improvement from the initial estimate (a 1.0% decline), it …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. The sun won’t shine on the retail sector forever Although for the first time since 2015, excluding the pandemic, retail sales volumes have risen for four months in a row, April’s …
We think the yields of Japanese government bonds will continue to rise, but because of BoJ hikes rather than concerns about fiscal sustainability. Fragile bond market sentiment hasn’t been limited to the US lately: a sharp rise in yields in Japan has …
Deficit shrinking, debt ratio falling While the cabinet’s approval rating has declined since PM Ishiba came to power in October, it hasn’t yet reached levels that in the past triggered electoral defeats or prompted other Prime Ministers to resign. That …
Inflation fight isn't over yet While the RBA’s decision to cut rates by 25bp at its meeting on Tuesday was widely expected, the Board’s overtly dovish messaging still caught most observers off guard. Indeed, Governor Bullock made news in her post-meeting …
Strong inflation will prompt rate hikes later this year Underlying inflation remained strong in April despite the slashing of public high school fees and we still expect the Bank of Japan to tighten policy further this year. Headline inflation was …
CBE delivers smaller cut as disinflation (temporarily) stalls The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cut its overnight deposit rate by a smaller-than-expected 100bp today, to 24.00%. But as inflation continues to ease over the coming months, we still think …
22nd May 2025
The passage of Donald Trump’s ‘one, big beautiful bill’ through the House of Representatives today has done little to calm nerves in the bond market, which had already been frayed by Moody’s recent decision to downgrade the US’ sovereign credit rating and …
The latest flash PMIs point to weak activity and a softening of price pressures in advanced economies outside the US. But the surveys suggest that tariffs are already having an inflationary impact in the US. Our estimate of the weighted average of the …
Transaction activity weakens again The further decline in existing home sales in April suggests that elevated mortgage rates and economic uncertainty are keeping buyers on the sidelines. Things could go from bad to worse over the next few months, with the …
Overview – Inflation has fallen further towards central banks’ targets and we expect it to remain subdued across most of the world. Tariffs will cause a temporary uplift in the US. But elsewhere, their economic drag will add to the disinflationary effects …
Israel readying strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities? Rumours that Israel could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities suggest that conflict in the region could escalate. But there are reasons to think that the fallout for the oil market, and therefore the Gulf …
US Commercial Property Valuation Monitor (Q2 2025) …
Our View: The economies of Central and Eastern Europe have lost momentum over the course of 2025 and, while the region is relatively insulated from US tariffs, the risks to our growth forecasts have generally shifted lower this month. Some central banks …
We have just returned from three days of client meetings in Europe where the biggest topics of interest were US tariffs, Germany’s fiscal stimulus, risks to public finances (including in France) and our recent work on the future of Europe . This Update …
India’s economy is emerging from its soft patch. Headline CPI inflation should remain close to the RBI’s 4% target over the coming months, enabling the central bank to continue easing monetary policy. We’re expecting a further 50bp of cuts to the repo …
Banxico looks set for another cut despite rise in inflation The larger-than-expected rise in Mexico’s headline inflation rate in the first half of May, to 4.2% y/y, was driven in large part by non-core components and is unlikely to sway Banxico’s …
Despite the latest setback in the S&P 500, we are revising back up our end-2025 forecast for the index in response to the de-escalation of the trade war albeit to a lower level of 6,250 than the projection of 7,000 we had before “Liberation Day”. We are …
A tariff-driven resurgence in inflation will likely keep the Fed from cutting this year, keeping mortgage rates near 7.0%. Some relief may come in 2026 and 2027 as rates drop back to 6.5%. Nonetheless, with affordability still stretched, we expect …
Small boost from tariff front-running not enough to stop economy stalling This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. The euro-zone’s flash PMIs for May suggest that manufacturing output continues to be supported by the …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Weak economy helping to reduce upside inflation risks Despite the modest rebound in the composite activity PMI in May, at face value it is consistent with the bumper 0.7% q/q …
Asia Chart Pack (May 2025) …
Europe Commercial Property Chart Pack (Q2 2025) …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Disappointing borrowing figures highlight Chancellor’s lack of wiggle room April’s public finances figures showed that despite the boost from the rise in employers’ National …
With housing affordability still extremely stretched, we expect house price growth to remain muted even as mortgage rates are set to fall further. However, there’s more scope for dwellings prices to rise in the smaller capital cities, while apartment …
PMIs point to a cooling economy The ongoing weakness in activity, coupled with softer price pressures, will keep the Bank of Japan in wait and watch mode in the near term. According to today’s flash estimate, Japan’s composite PMI fell from 51.2 in April …
