The authorities in several major emerging markets, including Egypt, Argentina and Nigeria, have taken important policy steps recently that may allow them to ease restrictions on access to foreign currency. But we don’t think that this is the start of a …
13th June 2024
Although the EUR/USD exchange rate is not far above multi-decade lows, we think structural factors mean that the euro is close to “fair value” relative to the US dollar and most other major currencies. So we doubt the euro will rebound against the dollar …
12th June 2024
The current fiscal framework is not perfect and could be reformed to improve investor confidence in the management of the public finances, tilt the composition of spending towards investment and reduce political uncertainty. However, the importance of the …
Capital Economics clients can download a complete pdf version of this report by clicking the download button top right. If you can't see a download option, please speak to your account manager. You can also explore the individual Spotlight chapters below: …
10th June 2024
US economic dominance has not always translated into stock market outperformance. Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), however, US equities have largely outperformed those in the rest of the world. The main driver for this has been higher growth in …
The US’s economic leadership is partly related to its sheer size, but its population also works more than other countries and it fares better on productivity. While the US economy faces various threats, from fracturing to regulation, we doubt that it will …
For all its flaws, the US has long been a world-leading economy in a number of important respects. It has been an economic leader as the largest economy in the world since the late 1870s. While GDP growth has sometimes been faster elsewhere, none of its …
In the coming years, we expect Europe to raise barriers to trade and investment with China but to do so in a targeted and gradual manner. If so, there would be big implications for some sectors, including electric vehicles and renewable technologies, but …
7th June 2024
Just as fixed mortgage rates have shielded homeowners from rising interest rates, they will prevent households’ interest costs from falling rapidly when interest rates are cut. While borrowers on tracker and two-year fixed rate deals will soon see their …
6th June 2024
The recent weakness of wage growth in Korea seems at odds with the country’s low unemployment rate. But a closer look at the data suggests that the unemployment rate is overstating the health of the labour market and, on top of that, compositional changes …
4th June 2024
Labor’s regulatory push can’t be blamed for the recent slump in labour productivity and we aren’t convinced that it will hold back future productivity growth much either. Indeed, we still think that a boost from artificial intelligence will lift growth …
28th May 2024
South Africa’s upcoming election looks set to herald a new era of coalition government. There are lots of permutations ranging from a centrist ANC-DA coalition to a so-called ‘doomsday coalition’ in which the ANC teams up with the left-wing EFF (although …
23rd May 2024
The metals-intensive nature of green technologies will add to demand for a host of industrial and battery metals, with green demand for copper and aluminium likely to grow twice as quickly as traditional demand for both metals has in the past. That said, …
We discussed the outlook for UK inflation and interest rates in an online briefing just after the release of April's CPI data. Watch that briefing here . Our forecast that CPI inflation will fall from 3.2% in March to below 2.0% in April and below 1.0% …
16th May 2024
Overseas loans by Chinese banks peaked in late 2021 and have since been curtailed in response to increased debt problems among EM borrowers. While these strains are partly a consequence of global shocks, they have also underscored some flaws with China’s …
A key concern around South Africa’s upcoming election is that the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) could get into government as part of what’s being dubbed in some quarters as a “doomsday coalition” with the ANC. This Focus takes a closer look at …
14th May 2024
The revolution in remote work has not been kind to the office sector. But smaller, higher quality offices have performed relatively well over the past couple of years. With fewer workers in the office firms have been able to cut space requirements and …
2nd May 2024
Most analysts expect China’s inflation rate to rebound to around 2% by 2026. In contrast, we think that persistent imbalances between supply and demand will keep it close to zero for the foreseeable future. This will make it harder to manage China’s high …
30th April 2024
All the signs suggest that a second Trump administration would take a more protectionist approach to trade. Export demand in Mexico, East Asia and ASEAN would be particularly hard hit by a universal US import tariff or a dollar devaluation, and those …
29th April 2024
Why is productivity so weak outside the US? Productivity growth in most advanced economies has been much weaker than that in the US since the pandemic. This partly reflects the relative weakness of demand, coupled with a degree of labour hoarding which …
Germany’s manufacturing sector has been in relative decline since around 2017. We think it will continue to shrink in the coming years and expect productivity growth in the sector to remain relatively low by past standards. As a result, the sector’s …
18th April 2024
The latest US CPI data may have dashed hopes of interest rate cuts as early as June, but looser monetary policy is still firmly on the cards late this year and over the course of next year. Lower rates should be positive for commodity prices but, …
16th April 2024
The ECB looks set to cut rates in June, reducing the deposit rate from 4% to 3.75%, and we think it will follow that up with rate reductions at every remaining meeting this year . The pace of cuts might slow next year as policymakers feel their way …
Residential has taken an increasing share of the professional investment universe over the last decade or more and we will be adding the sector to our next set of UK commercial property forecasts. Our in-depth analysis indicates residential’s recent …
11th April 2024
Taiwan will be one of the main beneficiaries of a lengthy global AI investment boom. We expect its economy to growth much faster over the rest of this decade than it did during the 2010s. It already appears that global excitement about the possibilities …
9th April 2024
We believe that the “narrow path” of returning inflation to target while keeping unemployment below pre-pandemic levels is wishful thinking. The Reserve Bank of Australia won’t bring domestic cost pressures under control unless the unemployment rate rises …
4th April 2024
Positivity surrounding India’s near and long-term economic outlook is arguably at its highest in a decade, with good reason. But amid the optimism, it is easy to become complacent to the downside risks. This Focus highlights five key risks that we think …
3rd April 2024
We think that it is now time for the curtains to close on the so-called ‘excess savings’ debate. While unusually high savings accumulated by households during the pandemic helped prevent recessions in advanced economies in 2023, they are likely to have …
One of the key problems for countries with ageing populations is how to tackle the associated fiscal costs. Those countries which have a good record for structural reform and/or scope to raise taxes should be able to mitigate or absorb those costs. But …
26th March 2024
While the Bank of Japan’s JGB holdings have started to shrink and will continue to do so now that Yield Curve Control is over, we think that the normalisation of the Bank’s balance sheet could take up to a decade. While shrinking central bank demand for …
Sub-Saharan Africa’s enormous demographic tailwind means the region will see the fastest GDP growth rates (4-5%) of any region between now and 2050. By the middle of the century, the region’s overall GDP will probably be larger than any single economy bar …
21st March 2024
We hosted an online briefing to discuss EM financial risks in more detail. Watch the recording here . Our risk indicators are presented as an interactive EM dashboard on our website here . The past few years have sharpened investors’ focus on assessing …
20th March 2024
The recent weakness of Germany’s economy is partly due to temporary factors which should ease this year. However, demographic and structural headwinds, partly driven by global fragmentation, mean the economy is likely to grow by little more than half a …
19th March 2024
Prime Minister Modi’s BJP appears on course to remain in power after India’s upcoming general election. But which party wins probably matters less for the economy and financial markets than whether the election delivers a stable government with a working …
This Global Markets Focus looks at whether Chinese equities’ recent rally heralds the start of something larger and more sustained. It argues that they could continue to do well over the next year or two, both in absolute terms and relative to many other …
15th March 2024
Reshoring still more myth than reality Although it has been a priority for the last three administrations, the reshoring of lost manufacturing jobs remains more myth than reality. There has been a significant boom in the construction of hi-tech …
12th March 2024
The impact of a second Trump presidency on Mexico’s economy would depend to a large extent on whether the USMCA deal remains intact or Mexico finds itself subject to US import tariffs. If the latter, Mexico would be one of the most affected EMs. And even …
Productivity in the euro-zone has been falling for well over a year. We think this is largely because it was unsustainably high in mid-2022 as many companies struggled to fill vacancies. Since then, it has fallen to more manageable levels. The decline in …
We discussed the implications of Russia’s election in a Drop-In on Tuesday, 12 th March. Click here to watch the 20-minute online briefing. The outcome of Russia’s presidential election taking place over 15-17 th March is not in doubt: Putin is all but …
7th March 2024
The surge in the terms of trade explains some of the resilience of Australia’s economy as it has probably encouraged the government to spend more money than it would have done without soaring mining tax revenues. The key point though is that Australia’s …
The net giveaway of £13.9bn (0.5% of GDP) in 2024/25 in the Budget may help end the recession before an election later this year. But fiscal policy is still being tightened in 2024/25 and that tightening will continue after the election and will probably …
6th March 2024
The drag from the unavoidable structural decline in China’s property sector has only just begun. Property sales and project starts have collapsed. But property construction activity has retreated only a little. It is likely to halve in the next few years, …
The policy agenda laid out at the National People’s Congress today is a reasonably pro-growth one. The new fiscal plans are supportive, monetary policy continues to have an easing bias, and the Premier reiterated recent welcome messages about …
5th March 2024
Relatively high interest rates and structural problems within offices will weigh on the commercial real estate recovery over the next three years. Indeed, we forecast the upturn will be weaker than in any previous cycle across global markets. And with …
4th March 2024
The green transition will deal a significant blow to EM oil producers that have failed to save their windfalls (Nigeria, Colombia, Angola), but boost the export revenues of economies such as Chile and South Africa that are endowed with the raw materials …
Donald Trump’s previous tariffs did surprisingly little damage to China’s economy, but China may find it harder to shrug off the damage in a rematch. Mr Trump is threatening larger tariff increases if he is elected again. And the factors that cushioned …
23rd February 2024
We think victory for Donald Trump in this year’s US presidential election would lead to higher Treasury yields than if incumbent Joe Biden (or another candidate) won. In our view, another Trump term would also be a headwind for equities – especially …
22nd February 2024
This report is the third of a three-part mini-series that establishes a framework for assessing the outlook for the EU carbon price. It takes an in-depth look at the various factors that typically drive the EU carbon price in the short term. While supply …
This report is the second of a three-part mini-series that establishes a framework for assessing the outlook for the EU carbon price. It sets out our approach for modelling the fundamental price of an EU carbon permit [1] over the rest of this decade. In …
This report is the first of a three-part mini-series that establishes a framework for assessing the outlook for the EU carbon price. It starts by explaining what an emissions trading scheme (ETS) is and how the ETS has evolved since its introduction in …
