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Slight uptick in February’s lending, but still below 2022 average Net commercial real estate lending ticked up in February following a slowdown the month prior. That said, monthly lending activity across all sectors remained below the average for 2022. …
13th March 2023
Overview – The economy is on the brink of a mild recession but with underlying inflation still accelerating, we expect new Bank of Japan Governor Ueda to end Yield Curve Control at the upcoming meeting in April. Key Forecasts Table Domestic Demand – We …
This dashboard shows our latest national sector-level commercial real estate forecasts for the next five years, as well as summary forecasts for a handful of core macroeconomic variables. If you have subscriber access to the data underlying this …
US authorities intervened on Sunday following the extraordinarily rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week. Have they done enough to calm markets, what does this mean for the need for further monetary policy tightening and what are the contagion …
Fed, Treasury and FDIC lay out fire break for banking system In the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank ($215bn in assets) – which has been followed today by the demise of Signature Bank ($110bn) – the Fed, Treasury and FDIC have acted …
12th March 2023
The circumstances of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse are unique enough that it probably won’t trigger a widespread financial contagion. Nevertheless, it is a timely reminder that when the Fed is singularly focused on squeezing inflation by jacking …
10th March 2023
We think US consumer price inflation fell slightly to around 6% in February (Tue.) Retail sales in China probably rebounded in January and February (Wed.) We expect the ECB to hike by a further 50bp (Thu.) Key Market Themes US government bond yields …
Failed dockworker union negotiations on the West Coast have led to further diversion of US imports toward the East and Gulf Coasts, supporting warehousing demand in those markets for longer than expected. We expect a degree of this demand to persist into …
Powell in hawkish mood Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed this week that interest rates are set to rise higher than we previously anticipated. Powell noted that the strength of the January activity, employment and inflation data indicated that …
Payrolls strong but rest of report suggests 25/50bp Fed hike debate unresolved The above-consensus 311,000 increase in payroll employment last month confirms that the super-sized 504,000 gain in January wasn’t just a seasonal distortion, but the rest of …
Employment strong, but rest of report suggests 25/50bp Fed hike debate still unresolved While the above-consensus 311,000 increase in payroll employment last month confirms that the super-sized 504,000 gain in January wasn’t just a seasonal distortion, …
We have revised up our forecasts for real GDP and no longer think the economy will be quite as weak. This has very little to do with the 0.3% m/m rise in real GDP in January released this morning. Most of that was a rebound after the widespread strikes …
January’s strength won’t prevent contraction in GDP in Q1 The 0.3% m/m rise in real GDP in January (consensus +0.1% m/m, CE +0.4% m/m) will raise hopes that the economy will escape a recession in 2023 and will increase calls for the Chancellor to splash …
Governor Phil Lowe’s proclamation at Wednesday’s AFR business summit that the RBA was closer to a pause in interest-rate increases has fed speculation of a dovish pivot on the part of the Board. Indeed, financial markets have tamped down their …
Lower inflation means Norges Bank can stick to 25bp hikes February’s decline in headline and core inflation takes some of the pressure off the Norges Bank and means that it is likely to hike by 25bp at the meeting in two weeks’ time. After surprising on …
Resurgence in activity unlikely to last The 0.3% m/m rise in real GDP in January (consensus +0.1% m/m, CE +0.4% m/m) leaves the economy in better shape than we had expected just a few months ago. But looking beneath the surface, the figures suggest the …
The Bank of Japan didn’t make any policy changes at Governor Kuroda’s last meeting today but we expect incoming Governor Ueda to abandon Yield Curve Control in April . While that decision was widely anticipated, we were among the few who predicted the …
Case for end of YCC a touch weaker but still strong Contrary to our expectations, the Bank of Japan did not make any changes to Yield Curve Control (YCC) at today’s meeting. And the case for abandoning the policy now looks a little less compelling than a …
BoJ still likely to end Yield Curve Control The Bank of Japan didn’t make any policy changes at Governor Kuroda’s last meeting today but we expect incoming Governor Ueda to abandon Yield Curve Control in April. We were among the few who expected the Bank …
The Fed is clearly trying to avoid a premature easing in financial conditions and a repeat of 1970s-style “stop-go” monetary policy. This Update discusses some lessons from that period for equity markets today. Equities have struggled over this week, …
9th March 2023
The US may not have a monarchy, but cash has arguably become its proverbial king of investments. If history is a guide, it is a reign that is likely to feature equities underperforming bonds amid a recession. Last November, the yield of a 3-month Treasury …
We expect industrial completions to exceed 3.5% of inventory this year, despite the first quarterly drop in space under construction in Q4 for over two years. But new starts are already slowing and with higher interest rates, elevated construction costs …
The numerous “plans for growth” that have been announced by the Government, the Opposition, and various commentators in recent months vary in their analytical rigour but all miss one crucial point: many of the reforms required to lift the UK’s pitifully …
Patches of positivity unlikely to last The slight recovery in the new buyer enquiries balance in February suggested that the reversal of the autumn spike in mortgage rates allowed a limited revival in demand. But with sales volumes falling and price …
The JOLTS survey showed a drop back in job openings in January, with the timelier job postings data from Indeed pointing to a more marked deterioration in labour market conditions in February. (See Chart 1.) The private job openings rate has …
8th March 2023
China inflation data likely to show rising price pressures (01.30 GMT) We expect interest rates to be left on hold in Malaysia… (07.00 GMT) …and also expect Peru’s central bank to leave rates unchanged (23.00 GMT) Key Market Themes Most “risky” assets …
With another 50bps rate hike at the European Central Bank’s March meeting looking like a done deal, all eyes will be on how policymakers signal the path ahead for monetary tightening. Will the resilience seen in some of the recent data be reflected in the …
Strong start to 2023 unlikely to be sustained The widening in the international trade deficit to $68.3bn in January, from $67.2bn, included big rebounds in both imports and exports which, at face value, add to the signs that demand is strengthening at …
We expect the Spring Budget on 15 th March to contain some giveaways confined to 2023/24. But a downgrade to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) medium-term GDP growth forecasts will prevent an unwinding of the £54bn (1.8% of GDP) of fiscal …
A record amount of industrial space is currently under construction, which looks poorly timed given the upcoming recession. However, the sector is entering the downturn in a strong position with very low vacancy. And we expect the share of online retail …
Industrial rebound, but recession still coming The big rebound in German industrial production in January suggests that industry may continue to hold up well in the face of the energy crisis. However, with the renewed drop in retail sales pointing to …
What will UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt deliver in his Spring Budget? Will he be able to splash any cash, will he hold back sweeteners until closer to the next general election, or will the OBR’s new economic forecasts tie his hands? Group Chief Economist …
7th March 2023
Powell confirms higher peak in rates Fed Chair Jerome Powell appears to have confirmed today that interest rates are set to rise a higher than we previously anticipated. But with most evidence still pointing to economic weakness and lower inflation this …
We think that most – perhaps two thirds – of the drag on activity from tighter monetary policy in advanced economies is still to come through in 2023. So, despite some surprisingly resilient data recently, we are sticking to our forecasts for advanced …
The substantial recovery in Halifax house prices in February added weight to the view that we will see a stand off between buyers and sellers that causes transactions to slump, but minimal price falls. That would be a historical anomaly, which is why our …
The Reserve Bank of Australia signalled that further tightening will be needed when it hiked the cash rate to 3.60% today and we’re sticking to our forecast that the Bank will lift the cash rate to 4.10% by May . The RBA’s decision to lift the cash rate …
RBA will hike the cash rate to 4.10% The RBA signalled that further tightening will be needed when it hiked the cash rate to 3.6% today and we’re sticking to our forecast that the Bank will lift the cash rate to 4.10% by May. The RBA’s decision to lift …
Worst hit to real wages since GFC could see spending fall in Q1 Wage growth fell sharply in January to its weakest in almost two years due largely to a slowdown in the growth of regular and overtime hours worked. Real wages posted the worst fall since the …
Net exports will support GDP growth in Q1 Notwithstanding a fall in the trade surplus in January, we think net trade is likely to provide a boost to GDP growth in Q1. The decline in the trade surplus, from $13bn to $11.7bn in January came in below the …
Wage growth should rebound in February We think the surprise sharp fall in wage growth in January was at least in part the result of Lunar New Year disruptions and there should be a rebound in February. The much slower wage growth in January, falling …
6th March 2023
In this Update we examine the implications of affordability for house prices at the market level. Despite sunbelt markets seeing the strongest house price growth over the past couple of years, affordability looks most stretched in the West. This has been …
Construction activity rebounds The headline CIPS construction index rebounded back into expansionary territory in February and the forward-looking indicators also showed further improvement. Commercial developers may be taking advantage of lower input …
Germany is more vulnerable than most advanced economies to a reduction in trade with China both because of the scale of trade and the use of Chinese-made inputs to its large manufacturing sector. We have highlighted in our Spotlight series that the …
With labour productivity falling the most on record over the past year, unit labour cost growth has surged even as hourly earnings growth has remained sluggish. While we expect productivity growth to rebound, we also expect hourly earnings growth to …
Although recent economic data have surprised to the upside, we still think that economic growth in the US will falter later this year. In our view, indicators of the equity risk premium in the US point to some complacency regarding the economic outlook, …
3rd March 2023
We expect Australia’s RBA to hike by another 25bp (Tue.) Japan’s central bank will probably abandon Yield Curve Control (Thu./Fri.) We think US non-farm payrolls rose by 200,000 in February (Fri.) Key Market Themes Notwithstanding the partial …
Surveys not consistent with economic reacceleration The marginal fall in the ISM services index to 55.1 in February, from 55.2, suggests activity continues to expand at a reasonably healthy pace, but provides further reason to doubt the idea that there …
The February employment report and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress next week should give a clearer indication of whether recent talk of interest rates going “higher for longer” is justified. Longer, but not necessarily higher? Market rate …
Brexit looking a bit brighter The economic developments this week were generally positive, starting with news that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, struck a deal with the EU on trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, officially known as the Windsor …
