Over the past year, Spanish households have seen a bigger increase in their cost of borrowing than those of any other large euro-zone economy, but the increase in the interest paid on deposits has been tiny. This is squeezing households’ disposable …
4th May 2023
Brazilian policymakers gave a firm push back against any expectations for imminent monetary easing at yesterday’s central bank meeting, supporting our view that interest rates will be lowered a bit more slowly over the next 6-12 months than most expect. …
The slowdown in regular earnings at the start of the year largely reflects sampling changes, with an unchanged sample of firms reporting continued strong wage growth. However, with inflation set to come off the boil before long and the labour market …
The Fed’s new policy statement provides the clearest hint yet that the 25bp rate hike today is likely to be the last. We expect economic weakness and a sharper-than-expected drop back in core inflation to convince officials to start cutting rates again …
3rd May 2023
The surge in exports from Latin America's major economies in March suggests that the upside risks to our GDP growth and currency forecasts are building. But with advanced economies poised to fall into recession over the coming quarters, China's demand for …
The Czech central bank (CNB) left its main policy rate on hold at 7.00% as expected today, but it looks like policymakers set out to strengthen their hawkish rhetoric and downplay expectations of an imminent cut in interest rates. The message was loud and …
A bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling alongside modest cuts to government spending still appears to be the most likely way out of the current impasse. It's possible that moderate Republicans will step in to help the Democrats push through a …
Although the unemployment rate remains near a record low, the decline in vacancies suggests that labour market conditions have nevertheless eased, supporting our view that wage growth is close to a peak. While the unemployment rate has been unchanged at …
Concerns about Kenya's public finances have intensified with the government recently delaying the payment of public employees' salaries. Policymakers appear willing to honour public debt obligations, but with plenty of pitfalls along the way, officials …
Note: We'll be discussing Turkey's election in an online briefing at 09:00 EDT/14:00 BST on 10th May . Register here . Parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 th May will make or break macroeconomic stability in Turkey. As things stand it looks …
A combination of the falls in global agricultural commodity prices, energy prices and wage growth will soon drag down food CPI inflation from a 46-year high of 19.6% in March perhaps to around 4.5% by the end of the year. Food inflation will soon become a …
Policy tightening over the past year has pushed up euro-zone households’ interest costs substantially and is a key explanation for household consumption falling. With interest costs set to rise a lot further in the coming months, we expect consumption, …
Note: We’re holding a special 20-minute online briefing all about EM debt risks this Thursday at 10:00 EDT/15:00 BST . Register now . Malaysia’s central bank (BNM) unexpectedly raised its main policy rate (OPR) today by 25bps (to 3.0%), citing the …
Available data for Q1 suggest that the global economy had a better start to the year than previously feared. That seems to have reflected the post zero-COVID rebound in China and its effects, a boost to spending from a mild winter in the US and ongoing …
Berlin offices have been outperforming those in other German markets for some time. But Q1 data suggest that growth has begun to falter, and we think that the recent strength of the market won’t last. Berlin office rents have risen rapidly over …
The decline in job openings to a near two-year low of 9.6 million in March, from a peak of 12.1 million a year earlier, suggests that, even without a rise in the unemployment rate, labour market conditions are nevertheless easing and are consistent with a …
2nd May 2023
Note: We’re holding a special 20-minute online briefing all about EM debt risks this Thursday at 10:00 EDT/15:00 BST . Register now . Egypt’s balance of payments (BoP) position strengthened markedly late last year, but policymakers’ reluctance to live up …
March’s money and credit data, as well as the Bank Lending Survey carried out in March and April, show no clear signs that the recent troubles in the US and Swiss banking sectors have had an impact on credit conditions in the euro-zone. Nevertheless, …
The Reserve Bank of Australia retained its tightening bias when it lifted the cash rate by 25bp at today’s meeting, but we suspect that it won’t raise interest rates any further over the coming months . The Bank’s decision to lift the cash rate from 3.60% …
The collapse of First Republic Bank is no big surprise – it had been teetering on the edge since suffering $100bn in deposit withdrawals mostly in March – but it’s a timely reminder that banking turmoil will continue to flare up periodically. After …
1st May 2023
The slowdown in European investment intensified in Q1 as transactions more than halved year-on-year. This was perhaps unsurprising given the ongoing price correction amid one of the sharpest tightenings of financial conditions on record. But, with …
28th April 2023
In our view, the role of UK pension funds in deterring firms from listing on the London Stock Exchange has been overstated of late. To the extent that higher valuations are the reason firms find a US listing more attractive, we think there is good reason …
Alongside the publication of our Q2 UK Housing Outlook this week, we held a series of roundtable meetings for clients in London. Here we sum up our thoughts on three key questions which recurred throughout the day: What is the biggest risk to our …
The Bank of Japan predicted that inflation will fall well below its 2% target in FY2025 when it kept policy settings unchanged today. And while it pledged to conduct a review into its policy measures, the results will only be unveiled next year. The …
Resilience in much of the global economic data of late has raised questions over whether the recessions we expect in most developed markets (DMs) will materialise later than we had initially thought. As such, we now forecast most “risky” assets will reach …
27th April 2023
The housing market will face growing headwinds from tighter credit conditions, slowing income growth and rising unemployment as the economy enters a recession this year. That will offset some of the impact of lower mortgage rates, and means housing market …
Inflows into EM bond and equity markets have picked up sharply in the past month, with flows into Asian equity markets looking particularly strong. That said, if we right that the dollar will rebound, we suspect that these inflows will drop back. That’s …
The replacement of Colombia’s market-friendly finance minister José Antonio Ocampo with a close ally of President Petro is likely to lead to a sell-off in Colombia’s financial assets when markets open later today. This is especially worrying given the …
Wage growth in the euro-zone is likely to remain above the level compatible with 2% core inflation this year and only gradually return to a more sustainable level thereafter. For the past year, wage growth has run well above the 3% y/y or so compatible …
The turmoil in the US banking system is likely to set off the worst decline in Japan’s commercial real estate prices since the Global Financial Crisis by prompting foreign investors to stop buying Japanese assets. In the worst-case scenario, GDP will …
Spain’s underperformance since the pandemic can be explained in part by the incomplete recovery in its tourism sector and in part by the sharp fall in real household disposable incomes. That said, we think the economy will outperform at least in the first …
26th April 2023
JODI data show that oil demand held up in advanced economies at the beginning of the year. We suspect this won’t last though as weakening economic activity drags on demand over 2023. The data also show that natural gas demand in Europe fell in February, …
With the ECB poised to raise rates next Thursday, the Riksbank has got its retaliation in early, hiking its key rate by 50bp. The statement indicates that policymakers expect to raise rates by another 25bp at most but, on balance, we think a further 50bp …
The Hungarian central bank (MNB) slashed the upper end of its interest rate corridor today by 450bp, to 20.50% and, while this move alone won’t loosen monetary conditions, it is likely to be followed by cuts to the effective policy rate (the overnight …
25th April 2023
Industrial occupier demand in Spain is set to slow sharply this year and next, as the economy falls into recession. And with both Madrid and Barcelona poised to see a record level of speculative development in the same period, we think Spain’s prime rent …
There’s little evidence (so far) that the surge in interest rate is leading to widespread debt servicing problems in Chile’s private sector, but there are pockets of vulnerability in the household sector. Although we don’t expect a wave of defaults in the …
A fall in consumption this year will weigh on the retail sector, but an earlier correction in yields and rents mean it is less vulnerable to the recession. Indeed, it was the only sector to see a fall in yields in Q1. While some further rise in yields …
24th April 2023
Once again the PMIs suggest that real activity in advanced economies continues to shrug off the effects of higher interest rates. According to the flash PMIs, GDP and employment growth both got off to a strong start in Q2, even amid the banking sector …
21st April 2023
The physical risks facing commercial property are substantial with extreme weather events like floods and wildfires set to increase in both the US and Europe over the coming decades. Property markets have yet to fully price these in, especially in areas …
We held an online Drop-In yesterday to present our new financial conditions indices and discuss how conditions have evolved in the wake of SVB’s collapse. (See a recording here ). This Update addresses some of the questions we received, a couple of which …
The Norwegian krone has been the worst G10 performer against the US dollar by some way in recent months. Though lower energy prices and weakening risk sentiment have likely played a role, we suspect foreign exchange transactions by Norges Bank are also …
Note: We’ll be discussing the BOJ’s April decision and the fate of YCC in a 20-minute online briefing at 09:00 BST/16:00 SGT on Friday, 28th April. Register here . While stronger-than-expected data out of Europe and China have weighed on the dollar over …
We would not be surprised if US “growth” stocks outperformed their “value” peers by a bit more in the near term. But we still suspect that growth will underperform value substantially over the longer term. That is informed by our view that the valuation …
The economic impact of the Oxford malaria vaccine, which has now been approved by regulators in Ghana and Nigeria, will depend on the pace and breadth of the rollout and how long immunity lasts for. But it could potentially have a large positive impact on …
20th April 2023
Large current account deficits across CEE have started to narrow in recent months and we think that this will continue as slowing economies and lower energy prices shrink import bills. This will reduce vulnerabilities, but external risks and currency …
Listed markets in Europe have been surprisingly downbeat about prospects for real estate relative to other regions. While we think that largely reflects mis-pricing in equity markets, it provides a reminder of the potential downsides as long as the …
As mortgage lenders’ net interest margins are already very narrow, the increase in market interest rates over the past fortnight means that the decline in mortgage rates from their spike after the “mini” budget is now over. It was unusual for swap rates …
The recommendations by the RBA’s review panel unveiled today were broadly in line with what we had anticipated. While the 2-3% inflation target will be retained, sweeping changes to the Bank’s leadership structure are underway. And with a lot of the …
Housing past the worst, but risks remain House prices edged up in March and the jump in the sales-to-new listing ratio implies they will rise further this quarter. With affordability still very stretched, we assume that there will be a renewed period of …
19th April 2023
The recent undershooting of CPI used vehicle prices relative to wholesale auction prices appears, at least partly, to reflect a squeeze on dealer margins as demand has cooled. The upshot is that we shouldn’t necessarily expect the CPI measure to catch up …
