The rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights over the weekend has heightened fears of a full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. For Israel, this risks adding to pressure on its already strained public finances, and would …
29th July 2024
The start of the Paris Olympic Games today suggests that there will be renewed interest in gold, silver and bronze. We suspect that athletes will be disappointed by the fact that the Olympic medals are not worth their weight in gold. What’s more, with …
26th July 2024
We think the capital market reforms announced as part of China’s Third Plenum won’t be enough to reinvigorate China’s equities, which we still think will provide disappointing long-run returns. It’s been a tough few days for China’s equities, which had …
Strong public investment growth alongside overall fiscal prudence have contributed to the rallies in India’s bond and stock markets over the past couple of years. However, we don’t see much in the latest budget to revise our view that gains in the coming …
We think that a second term for President Trump would probably worsen the outlook for sustainable energy equities at the margin, and also add to the pessimism around stocks in the beleaguered electric vehicle (EV) sector. We expect that both supply and …
25th July 2024
While headline balances saw little movement, digging deeper the Q2 RICS survey shows a reversal of last quarter’s more positive outlook. Indeed, respondents seem more downbeat, with almost half now believing we are still in the downturn phase of the …
Our team have recorded a special podcast episode all about the big themes in commercial real estate. The 12-minute episode showcases our enhanced coverage which provides a more global, comparative view of how the key markets we forecast are performing, …
The Q2 RICS commercial survey added to the growing body of evidence that capital values at the all-property level have now bottomed out. But, in line with our forecasts, it also implied that the recovery will be modest by past standards with values only …
Net immigration to euro-zone countries will probably be higher than the UN assumes in its latest population forecasts. But we still think the working age population will decline over the coming decade and that is a key reason to expect GDP growth to be …
While the pound has outperformed all major G10 currencies so far this year, we still expect it to depreciate against the greenback later in the year as the Bank of England (BoE) eases monetary policy more than money markets currently discount. While it …
24th July 2024
Alongside its decision to cut interest rates today, the Bank of Canada struck a more dovish tone than in June, supporting our forecast that another cut is coming at the next meeting in September. The Bank’s second 25 bp cut, taking the policy rate to …
Business surveys released this morning add to evidence that the Olympics will lift activity in France slightly in Q3. However, activity is likely to drop back again in Q4 and we still think annual GDP growth will only be around 1%. Meanwhile, we don’t …
The latest flash PMIs suggest that while GDP growth probably slowed in Europe at the start of Q3, it continued to recover in Japan. Although the rise in shipping costs has caused manufacturers’ input prices to rise, central banks may take comfort from the …
Supermarkets struggled in 2023, as falling food sales volumes hit profits and rental growth. But the future looks brighter. As food price inflation has fallen supermarket profits have recovered and the past surge in food sales values points to stronger …
Booming demand for LNG in Asia this year has helped push prices in Asia to a sizeable premium over those in Europe. We think that this premium will remain above 10% over the rest of the year but will shrink when a huge increase in global LNG supply begins …
The recent sharp deterioration in Brazil’s public finances has forced Finance Minister Fernando Haddad to outline further fiscal tightening measures, but we doubt that the government will do enough to prevent public debt from rising in the coming years. …
23rd July 2024
A growing number of EMs have adopted fiscal rules to improve investor confidence in the management of their public finances. But the recent deterioration in fiscal health in some EMs has led to the breach (or at least threat of a breach) of these rules. …
Recent surveys of real estate lenders paint a picture of a European lending market that is still seized up, as loan terms tightened and credit demand fell in H1. Lenders are optimistic that demand for credit and origination will both pick up over the …
Easing cycle continues The Hungarian central bank (MNB) cut interest rates by 25bp again today, to 6.75%, and the post-meeting press conference suggests that, while there are some MPC members who want to pause the easing cycle, the balance is a bit more …
Without wishing to downplay the ugly fiscal picture, we think the new government is overplaying the gloom. We suspect more optimistic economic forecasts and various tweaks to the fiscal rules will save the new Chancellor from hitting the electorate with …
The electricity blackouts that have blighted Egypt this summer may be nearing an end. But in the absence of new major gas discoveries, in the longer run rising energy demand will result in renewed balance of payments problems from higher imports or will …
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has shown a commitment to fiscal consolidation while for the most part placating the BJP’s coalition partners in today’s FY24/25 Union Budget announcement. There is always a chance of fiscal slippage, but recent success …
We doubt the independent pay review bodies’ recommendations for the government to give teachers and NHS staff a 5.5% pay rise will prevent wage growth from slowing to 3.0% by the end of next year. But if the government chooses to extend this pay rise to …
Much of the recent resilience in Australia’s house price growth can be attributed to a handful of capital cities where the property markets have gone from strength to strength. We believe that there are a number of factors that help explain the divergence …
The complete Third Plenum “Decision” document provides interesting details on the leadership’s reform agenda across a range of areas. Overall though, it reinforces the central message in last week’s initial Plenum communiqué: Xi Jinping continues to place …
22nd July 2024
Increases in solar panel and battery exports propelled our proprietary measure of China’s green export volumes to a record high in June. Given the rapid expansion in Chinese manufacturing capacity, the large wedge between export values and volumes will …
After a roller-coaster ride over the past couple of years, we think euro-zone retail sales are likely to rise gradually in the coming quarters. Consumption has recovered a long way following the disruption caused by the pandemic and the energy price …
19th July 2024
China’s bond market seems to be caught between the country’s slowing economy and the PBOC’s desire to push long-end yields higher. The announcements from the Third Plenum this week probably won’t help the central bank, and we still think yields will fall …
The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to leave its repo rate unchanged at 8.25% was of little surprise but there was increased optimism on the MPC that inflation is moving towards the 4.5% mid-point of the target and that inflation expectations are …
18th July 2024
With the share of non-performing CMBS loans on the rise, and plenty of loans set to refinance onto a higher rate this year, recent data provide further evidence that distress will rise both this year and next as we expected. However, while there is still …
Today’s decisions to leave interest rates on hold and give no clear signals about the future path of interest rates were in line with expectations. The overall tone was arguably slightly dovish, making a September cut more likely. But the risks to our …
The latest polls suggest that the opposition is on track to win Venezuela’s election later this month but President Maduro is likely to do all he can to cling on to power. If he manages to do so, Venezuela’s nascent economic recovery would be nipped in …
Newfound political stability in the UK contrasts with the now more uncertain political backdrop in France. A better relative outlook for economic growth and risk-free rates had already led to a narrowing in the premium on UK over French property in recent …
China’s leadership has promised to continue comprehensively deepening reform in a wide range of areas. But there are few signs that the just concluded Third Plenum marks a major change in the direction of policymaking. And there still appears to be a …
While the global monetary policy loosening cycle is now well underway, there is more nuance than you might assume. Recent data have made us more confident that cuts (or further cuts) are to come in the US and Canada. But in Australia, the UK and large …
The policy shift underway in Nigeria has kept economic growth subdued – something that continued in Q2 according to the latest PMI and confidence data. Tight monetary policy will still remain a constraint on the economy. But with inflation soon set to …
Gold jewellery demand has been highly sensitive to price changes in the past and so will come under pressure from the current backdrop of record high gold prices. Income growth in key markets will offset some of the demand destruction. But jewellery …
17th July 2024
Japan’s intervention in support of the yen is not enough in itself to generate a sustained rebound in the yen. But with the FOMC (finally) nearing its first rate cut while the BoJ continues to tighten its policy stance gradually, we think the tide is now …
South Africa is struggling to emerge from its recent trend of sluggish economic activity, with stronger outturns in the retail sector being offset by weakness in industry. Nonetheless, we think momentum will build over the coming quarters on the back of …
The ~10% fall in EU carbon prices since the end of May has mirrored a similar-sized fall in European natural gas prices, and we forecast both to fall by a further 25-30% by year-end. That said, the fundamentals still point to large gains in the EU carbon …
Housing market turning a corner Further interest rate cuts from the Bank of Canada should breathe some life into the housing market in the coming months, but the dimmer outlook for rent growth and apartment prices present downside risks to construction. …
16th July 2024
Many households have left western metros in favor of those in the South over the past two years. With remote working looking like a permanent fixture of office-based jobs and affordability significantly stretched in the West, we do not expect to see a …
The downward revisions to global population growth in the UN’s latest projections won’t have a major bearing on our long-term GDP growth forecasts. That’s because a lot of the revision was driven by lower population projections in China, where we had …
The Bank Lending Survey suggests that there was a pick-up in demand for bank loans in the second quarter particularly for residential mortgages and consumer credit. This is consistent with the consensus and our own view that the economy is recovering and …
The upside surprise to headline consumer price inflation last month has all but ended hopes of a rate cut at the RBI’s August policy meeting. But we think that the conditions will be in place for policy loosening to begin in December. To recap, headline …
Newly-published data show that the Philippines has entered a demographic sweet spot that could provide a big boost to economic growth. But this will only happen if enough new jobs can be created for the wave of young people that will enter the workforce …
The Bank of Canada’s business and consumer surveys point to weak GDP growth, show that firms’ wage expectations are now lower than their pre-pandemic peak, and suggest that consumers are increasingly concerned about the health of the labour market. All …
15th July 2024
Disinflation in the services sector seems to have stalled in several advanced economies this year. That’s partly because the easiest wins related to food and energy effects are behind us and also reflects some temporary factors. Much now depends on the …
12th July 2024
We think Spain’s economy will grow strongly over the next few years, substantially outperforming the euro-zone. This is partly due to strong domestic demand which has been supported by the rapid expansion of the labour force driven by high immigration. …
Recent protests in Kenya have dealt a heavy blow to President Ruto’s fiscal consolidation plans and, with the president dismissing the cabinet yesterday as he tries to cling on to power, it looks increasingly likely that the government will struggle to …
