Filtered by Region: G10 Use setting G10
Following the release of our new analysis on real equilibrium interest rates (R*) last month, we held an online Drop-In last week and in-person Roundtable events with clients yesterday to discuss our findings. This Update answers several of the questions …
9th November 2023
Shortly after the release of the October CPI report, our US Economics team held a client briefing all about the October report and the inflation and growth outlooks and how they’ll shape Fed policy. They answered client questions and addressed key issues, …
GDP growth appears to have all but stalled in Q3 but that was after a very strong first half. There are mounting signs that a virtuous cycle is forming between wages and prices. This is making the Bank of Japan increasingly confident that it can steer …
Bank lending data from the major advanced economies confirmed that lending was very subdued in September and the latest bank lending surveys show that banks have since tightened their lending criteria further. With demand for loans also falling, the drag …
A tentative improvement The past prices balance remained deeply negative in October contradicting the 1% m/m increases in house prices recorded by both Halifax and Nationwide. But a recovery in buyer enquiries suggests the decline in mortgage rates since …
The recent weakening in employment, easing in wage growth and signs that households are saving more and spending less have provided more confidence that higher interest rates are working. But we think that the restraints on UK labour supply and sticky …
8th November 2023
Business investment had so far been resilient to higher interest rates, but growth stalled in the third quarter and there are three reasons why we think that’s a sign of things to come. First, the boost from surging manufacturing structures investment has …
Mortgage applications bottom out After their weakest month in 28 years, there were signs that mortgage applications for home purchase bottomed out at the end of October. Mortgage applications for home purchase dropped 9.1% m/m across October as a whole, …
One factor that may have contributed to higher Treasury term premia, as posited recently by the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee in connection with the Quarterly Refunding, is a shift in the correlation between US government bonds and equities. We …
7th November 2023
Despite some differences in the monetary policy outlooks for Australia and the US, we doubt 10-year yields in the two economies will diverge much. Earlier today the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made what looks likely to be one of the last moves in the …
The recent stickiness of the Fed’s preferred measure of ‘supercore’ inflation mainly reflects temporary factors rather than ongoing tightness in the labour market. The upshot is that we still expect a decline in inflation for PCE core services ex-housing …
Surplus boosted by temporary surge in oil prices The September trade data look encouraging at first glance, with the merchandise trade surplus widening to $2.0bn, from $1.0bn, but the 2.7% m/m increase in export values was mostly due to higher oil prices. …
Support from rebounding exports unlikely to last The modest increase in the trade deficit to $61.5bn in September, from $58.7bn, reflected strong gains in imports and exports, capping off solid quarterly rebounds in both. But with the global economy …
As had been widely expected, the RBA handed down a 25bp rate hike at its meeting today. With the cash rate now at 4.35%, we believe the Bank’s tightening cycle is over. If we’re right that the Australian economy will soon take a turn for the worse, rate …
RBA’s next move will be down With today’s widely anticipated rate rise now behind us, we believe the RBA’s tightening cycle is at an end. The RBA’s decision to lift its cash rate by 25bp at today’s meeting came as a surprise to few. Indeed, 35 out of 39 …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Wage growth will continue to accelerate Regular wage growth accelerated in September and we think it will continue to climb to around 2% next year. According to the preliminary …
The Fed’s latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey suggests that, while they remain tight, credit conditions have eased a little since the run of regional bank failures earlier this year prompted the Fed to boost its liquidity provisions to the sector. …
6th November 2023
With the unemployment rate rising, the Sahm rule will probably be triggered soon. That will prompt claims a recession has started but, since that rise is due to increased labour supply as much as it is weaker demand, we would caution against relying on …
We think the risks to the “goldilocks” view being discounted in markets are skewed towards a bigger slowdown in the US than is currently discounted, driving credit spreads up over the coming months. The market reaction to data in the US last week, rounded …
There are increasing signs that the most leveraged borrowers are struggling to refinance their mortgages with traditional lenders. The small but meaningful number of insured mortgage holders who took out a two-year fix when house prices peaked in early …
Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing is back to discuss what the recent data say about the global economic outlook – including October US payrolls and China PMIs – and what to expect from the Fed, ECB and Bank of England following their decisions to keep …
3rd November 2023
We think today’s big moves in markets in the wake of October’s US Employment Report are a sign of things to come over the next twelve months or so. More evidence that the labour market in the US is cooling and that wage growth there is moderating (see …
There is now mounting evidence that the economy is set for a renewed slowdown in the fourth quarter and that inflationary pressures from the labour market continue to ease. Although markets have already moved to price out any real chance of further rate …
Employment edged up in October but the broad-based weakness of GDP growth, the depressed business surveys and the rapidly weakening housing market all suggest that the economy is in the early stages of recession. GDP probably contracted again last quarter …
Slowdown spreads to services sector The ISM services index fell to a five-month low of 51.8 in October, from 53.6, adding to the evidence that economic growth is slowing after a blockbuster third quarter. Unlike the renewed slump in the manufacturing …
Looser labour market driving softer wage pressures This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. The more modest rise in employment and essentially unchanged hours worked in October suggest that labour demand is easing …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Third-quarter strength fading rapidly The muted 150,000 gain in non-farm payrolls in October is another sign that the economy’s strength in the third quarter is likely to unwind …
We can understand if the phase “the lady doth protest too much” sprang to mind when listening to the Bank of England after it left interest rates at 5.25% for the second meeting in a row on Thursday. Indeed, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street stressed so …
Threat of yen intervention remains As we had expected, the Bank of Japan retained its 1% cap for 10-year yields at this week’s meeting . However, by downgrading that cap to a “reference” and by stopping its daily fixed-rate operations offering to buy an …
Too soon to signal the all-clear Data released this week showed that the Australian consumer isn’t on the skids just yet. Indeed, with retail turnover having surged in September, sales values rose by a solid 0.8% q/q in Q3, their strongest quarterly …
October’s manufacturing PMIs suggest that global industrial activity continued to contract at the beginning of Q4 and forward-looking indicators point to further weakness ahead. The output component of the global manufacturing PMI fell from 49.7 in …
2nd November 2023
The rise in the US homeownership rate has stalled, driven by a drop in the proportion of under-35s that own their home. That’s down to higher mortgage rates reducing the number of first-time buyers (FTBs) that can afford to buy. Our forecast is for …
We’ll be discussing the latest Fed, ECB and Bank of England policy decisions in a 20-minute Drop-In webinar at 3pm GMT today. (Register here .) The Bank’s decision to leave interest rates at 5.25% for the second time in a row and to double down on the …
Although consumer spending has remained remarkably resilient in the US so far this year, it has weakened in other advanced economies. And as the lagged effects of high interest rates filter through to households in an environment of low consumer …
Productivity acceleration bearing down on unit labour costs Data today confirmed that the surge in GDP in the third quarter was driven by a 4.7% annualised jump in productivity, the biggest gain since 2020. While it remains to be seen whether this is the …
Bank doubles-down on rates staying high for long The Bank’s decision to leave interest rates at 5.25% for the second time in a row and the doubling down on the message that rates cuts are a long way away supports our view that Bank Rate will stay at 5.25% …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Drag from net trade will be offset by boost from stockbuilding The slump in the trade balance in September increases the risk that the Australian economy entered a recession in …
The government today confirmed that it intends to welcome an increasing number of permanent residents in the next couple of years. Even if the number of permanent residents continues to rise, however, the record number of temporary residents currently in …
1st November 2023
By leaving rates unchanged while continuing to flag the possibility of further tightening to come, the Fed indicated today that it remains in ‘wait and see’ mode. But Chair Jerome Powell appeared to strike a more dovish tone in his press conference and we …
Fed’s tightening bias likely to be dropped soon By leaving rates unchanged while continuing to flag the possibility of further tightening to come, the Fed indicated today that it remains in ‘wait and see’ mode. But we suspect the data over the coming …
The Treasury’s Quarterly Refunding announcement (QRA) today may have eased some upward pressure on Treasury term premia, but we think these premia are unlikely to fall further over the coming years. Although the Treasury today increased the auction size …
The September JOLTS data suggest that the labour market is loosening at a slightly slower pace, but still point to a sharper fall in wage growth ahead. There is little support for the idea that resilient activity growth in the third quarter will lead to a …
Office-based jobs at a stand-still for first time in three years September’s employment growth was below the average for 2023 thus far, recording 0.4% 3m/3m across our 30 covered metros once seasonally-adjusted. Meanwhile, office-based jobs remained …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Manufacturing recovery fizzling out The surprise slump in the ISM manufacturing index to 46.7 in October, from 49.0, suggests the recent recovery in factory-sector activity is …
