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Stalling disinflation means rates will remain higher for longer While inflation picked up further in April, we doubt that the Reserve Bank of Australia will respond with another interest rate hike. The 3.6% increase in the Monthly CPI Indicator was …
29th May 2024
House prices March on The solid 0.3% m/m rise in house prices in March suggests that competition among buyers for the limited number of second-hand homes on the market remains strong. We expect that to continue for the rest of the year, consistent with …
28th May 2024
Falling real consumption will help to reduce inflation The weakness in retail sales is consistent with our view that inflation will reach the top end of the RBA’s 2-3% target band in the second half of the year. The 0.1% m/m rise in retail sales values in …
Retail sales point to soft consumption growth The broad-based nature of the weakness in retail sales in March show that high interest rates are weighing on demand and, at the margin at least, provide a bit more justification for the Bank to cut interest …
24th May 2024
Durable goods orders slowly trending up Headline and core durable goods both did better than we expected in April, suggesting that the earlier decline in corporate borrowing costs may be feeding through. Nonetheless, with growth in underlying capital …
Outlook for retailers remains bright despite soggy start to Q2 The 2.3% m/m fall in retail sales volumes in April was much bigger than our forecast for a 0.5% m/m fall and the consensus forecast for a 0.4% m/m decline as the unusually wet weather …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Underlying inflation will fall below 2% over coming months The sharp slowdown in underlying inflation in April had little to do with the slashing of high school fees in Tokyo …
New home sales fall in April due to high mortgage rates The spike in mortgage rates to 7.3% in April caused a sizeable drop in new home sales, as buyers decided to wait for a chance of getting a lower rate. We think this will partly reverse in May as …
23rd May 2024
Survey provides support for summer rate cut Today’s May flash PMI survey will have provided the Bank of England with some comfort after yesterday’s stronger-than-expected inflation data for April. Crucially, the further fall in the services output prices …
FOMC stresses higher for longer The minutes of the Fed’s early May policy meeting are, not surprisingly given the backdrop of data releases ahead of that meeting, somewhat hawkish. The resilience of economic growth and employment, and particularly the …
22nd May 2024
Existing home sales slide in April, with further falls likely ahead The drop in existing home sales in April will be followed up by further falls in the coming months, supporting our view that the recovery in transactions we expect this year will be …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication . Limited scope for tax cuts April’s public finances figures got the new 2024/25 fiscal year off to a shaky start and cast further doubt on the Chancellor’s ability to unveil big …
We’ll be discussing the outlook for UK inflation and interest rates in a 20-minute online briefing at 9.30am BST today. (Register here .) This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Stickiness of services inflation makes …
RBNZ signals rate cuts may have to wait Although the RBNZ suggested that there was a high bar for further policy tightening, the Committee stated that interest rates may have to remain at their current restrictive level well into 2025. In our view, the …
Easing in core inflation is being sustained The fourth consecutive 0.1% m/m average increase in the Bank of Canada’s preferred core price measures in April will give the Bank confidence that the further easing in core inflation is being sustained. That …
21st May 2024
RBA is done tightening policy The RBA continued to tout the line that all options are on the table as far as its next move is concerned. However, we still expect the Bank’s next move to be down, not up. The minutes of the RBA’s May meeting confirmed that …
Soft IP adds to downside surprises on activity The 0.3% m/m decline in manufacturing output in April , together with the downward revision to the March gain, from 0.5% to 0.2%, continues the run of weaker activity data and will further solidify …
16th May 2024
Weaker than expected recovery in housing starts The modest rebound in housing starts in April confirmed that the slump the month before was a weather-related blip. But the recovery wasn’t as strong as we had anticipated, which potentially casts some doubt …
Labour market will continue to loosen The continued rise in the unemployment rate in April further diminishes the likelihood that the Reserve Bank of Australia will deliver another interest rate hike. The 38,500 rise in employment last month was stronger …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Activity set to rebound this quarter The renewed drop in GDP in the first quarter mostly reflects production shutdowns at major carmakers and a pronounced rebound this quarter …
Manufacturing sector faltering The weakness of manufacturing sales in March suggests that the economy lost momentum heading into the second quarter, matching the message from the earlier preliminary estimates for retail sales and GDP. The 2.1% m/m fall in …
15th May 2024
CPI consistent with September rate cut The slightly more modest 0.3% m/m increase in core CPI in April was even better than it looked, particularly given that we already know the PPI components that feed into the Fed’s preferred PCE deflator measure came …
Consumers not looking quite as strong We would caution against jumping to the conclusion that consumers are starting to crack under high interest rates, despite the disappointing retail sales data for April, as some payback always seemed likely after the …
April’s inflation data confirm Riksbank unlikely to cut in June. The small increase in the Riksbank’s target CPIF measure of inflation, which excludes the effect of changes in interest rates, from 2.2% in March to 2.3% in April, was broadly as expected …
PPI brings mixed news for PCE supercore The bigger-than-expected 0.5% m/m increases in both all items and core final demand producer prices in April were mainly due to downward revisions to earlier months, with the 0.2% m/m gains in March both revised to …
14th May 2024
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Sticky wage growth is a lingering concern for the BoE While the further easing in regular private sector pay growth in March suggests that wage pressures faded a bit faster than …
Confidence slump leaves us wondering what we may be missing The renewed slump in the University of Michigan consumer sentiment gauge to a six-month low of 67.4 in May, from 77.2, is hard to explain given that gasoline prices are now falling again, the …
10th May 2024
Surge in employment suggests Bank will wait until July to cut The surge in employment in April shows that the fall in March was just a blip and suggests that the Bank of Canada is now more likely to wait until the July meeting to cut interest rates, …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Strong GDP data probably won’t prevent BoE rate cuts The 0.6% q/q rise in GDP in Q1 confirmed that the recession ended at the start of this year and suggests the economy has been …
For more detailed and up-to-date analysis see here . Rapid falls in inflation may prompt BoE to cut rates in June The Bank of England left interest rates at 5.25% today as widely expected, but it gave the impression it’s getting closer to cutting rates. …
9th May 2024
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Wage growth to gain further momentum While total wage growth slowed sharply in March, this was mostly driven by a plunge in volatile bonus payments. Regular wage growth held up …
Rising mortgage rates extend the slump in demand The small rebound in mortgage demand in March proved short-lived, as higher borrowing costs caused home purchase mortgage applications to drop 2.3% m/m in April. But the 10-year Treasury yield’s recent …
8th May 2024
RBA content to stay put for a while The RBA’s decision to leave rates unchanged at 4.35%, despite the material upside surprise in the CPI data last quarter, suggests that the bar for a resumption of rate hikes is high. However, the other side of that coin …
7th May 2024
Fundamentals point to slower wage growth Powell leaves all options open Fed Chair Jerome Powell argued in his post-FOMC press conference this week that, despite the stickiness of inflation in recent months, additional interest rate hikes were still …
3rd May 2024
Rise in prices paid not yet a concern The fall in the ISM services index to 49.4 in April, from 51.4 in March, suggests that services spending could slow from the 4% annualised in the first quarter. The prices paid index rebounded but, for now, it is …
Labour market easing puts rate cuts back on the table April’s employment report was weaker across the board; with employment growth slowing back to the pace from last fall, the unemployment rate ticking up to 3.9% and average hourly earnings growth …
Deficit narrows; Productivity growth stalls The trade deficit narrowed slightly in March to $69.4bn, from $69.5bn, with exports down by 2.0% m/m and imports falling by 1.6%. The $5.1bn decline in goods exports included a $1.2bn drop in civilian aircraft …
2nd May 2024
External demand still weak Despite the slump in March, export volumes grew strongly over the first quarter and net trade appears to have been behind about half of the likely 2.5% annualised rise in first-quarter GDP. Nonetheless, the fall in March and the …
Swiss CPI jumps, but will fall in the coming months The jump in Switzerland’s inflation rate in April was largely due to increases in the volatile food and fuel components. While the data increase our confidence that the SNB will not cut interest rates at …
Fed statement acknowledges inflation rebound; announces QT taper The Fed admitted in the statement issued after today’s FOMC meeting that “in recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the… 2% inflation objective”. Otherwise, today’s …
1st May 2024
Manufacturing struggling for momentum The fall in the ISM manufacturing index back below the theoretical 50.0 no-change level in April suggests that the nascent recovery in the manufacturing sector may already have gone into reverse. While the further …
Higher mortgage rates continue to hit prices The second consecutive decline in the Nationwide house price index in April confirms that the rise in mortgage rates since the start of the year will prevent further near-term price gains. But as we think Bank …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Spare capacity continues to open up in the labour market The labour market loosened more forcefully than we had expected in Q1. With subdued activity weighing on labour demand, …
Momentum in house prices continues The substantial shortage of existing homes for sale fueled a robust 0.4% m/m rise in house prices in February, consistent with our above-consensus call that house price growth will end 2024 at 5% y/y. The increase in the …
30th April 2024
Strong Q1, but growth likely to slow in the second quarter Despite the weaker-than-expected rise in GDP in February, first-quarter growth still looks to be close to 2.5% annualised. The weaker flash estimate for March points to less momentum going into …
Wage growth now looks a little sticky too The persistence of wage growth is another reason for the Fed to take its time on rate cuts. According to the first-quarter employment cost index, civilian wages increased at a 1.1% non-annualised pace and the …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Further evidence the drag on activity from high interest rates is fading March’s money and credit figures provide further evidence that the drag from high interest rates is …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Softness in retail sales probably won’t prevent a rate hike The weakness in retail sales last month suggests that sales volumes fell across Q1 as a whole. That said, with …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. GDP set to rebound this quarter Coupled with solid output forecasts for April and May, the strong rebound in industrial production in March suggests that the likely slump in GDP …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Survey points to stagnant economy and still-high price pressures The weaker-than-expected EC business and consumer survey for April is a reminder that the euro-zone economy is …
29th April 2024
