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The granular data on mortgage lending in Q1 contained some signs of relief following the dip in mortgage rates at the end of last year. But given that decline in rates has since reversed, we don’t think it signals a further improvement in activity to …
11th June 2024
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. S ticky wage growth a lingering concern for the BoE The stickiness of wage growth in April will be a lingering concern for the Bank of England. But with employment falling …
The latest data has been a bit stronger than we had anticipated and suggests that the recovery in euro-zone activity may continue at a moderate pace. The labour market remains tight, with unemployment falling to a fresh record low and wage growth picking …
10th June 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call for snap elections has triggered a negative reaction in markets, not only in France but also in the rest of the EU. Even though the far-right National Rally has abandoned its most extreme economic …
The shock results of Europe’s parliament elections have roiled markets as investors respond harshly to news of President Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve France’s National Assembly and hold early elections. What will Macron’s gamble mean for the …
Macron’s gamble adds to risks for public finances Support for the centrists has held up quite well in European elections but this was overshadowed by the jump in votes for the far-right in France and President Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve …
In the coming years, we expect Europe to raise barriers to trade and investment with China but to do so in a targeted and gradual manner. If so, there would be big implications for some sectors, including electric vehicles and renewable technologies, but …
7th June 2024
This week both the Conservative and Labour Party have been quick to tell us about ‘financial black holes’ in their opponent’s tax and spending plans. But there are two big things neither party is telling us. First, sticking to their fiscal rules means …
CBRT reserves on the rise The rebound in Turkey’s FX reserves in the past two months, alongside the sharp reduction in the central bank’s FX swap programme, has taken the CBRT’s net FX position into positive territory for the first time in four years. …
Data released this week confirmed that the euro-zone economy is out of recession, but that domestic demand is still quite weak. The second estimate of Q1 GDP showed that the economy expanded by 0.3% q/q. But the breakdown revealed that was fully explained …
CBR sounds hawkish, rate hike becoming more likely Russia’s central bank (CBR) left its key policy rate on hold at 16.00% but delivered a much more hawkish message at today’s meeting. Inflation concerns are likely to persist for some time and we think the …
Confirmation house prices are stagnant The slight decline in the Halifax house price index in May confirmed that the increase in mortgage rates since the start of the year has caused house prices to stall. Mortgage rates have continued to edge up, so …
While euro-zone inflation data has recently surprised to the upside, which was reflected in the hawkish tone of today’s ECB meeting , we still think the 10-year Bund yield will fall faster than the 10-year Treasury yield by end-2024. Although today’s 25bp …
6th June 2024
The ECB began its easing cycle today, as expected, but the accompanying guidance and forecasts suggest that it will proceed cautiously. We now think the Bank will cut interest rates by only a further 50bp before the end of the year, with the next cut …
Indications that take-up stabilised across many markets in Q1 were encouraging. However, looking ahead we think the prospects for occupier demand are better in southern European markets. As we recently highlighted , there were tentative signs that Europe …
Overview – Activity strengthened across Emerging Europe in Q1 and we expect this to be sustained over the coming quarters, with GDP growth in most economies exceeding consensus expectations in 2024. This is likely to be accompanied by renewed inflation …
Just as fixed mortgage rates have shielded homeowners from rising interest rates, they will prevent households’ interest costs from falling rapidly when interest rates are cut. While borrowers on tracker and two-year fixed rate deals will soon see their …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Euro-zone sales ticked down but past the worst Retail sales ticked down in April we expect them to rise gradually from here. The 0.5% m/m decline in retail sales in April was a …
Construction activity picks up in both housing and commercial sectors The headline CIPS construction PMI rose to a two-year high of 54.7 in May. Both the commercial and housing balances improved, with the latter rising above 50 for the first time since …
Activity softens slightly, but still running hot Russia’s economy appears to have had a slightly softer start to Q2, with industrial production and retail sales growth both slowing in April. Still, the latest indicators for May have remained strong and …
5th June 2024
Whoever wins the general election on 4 th July will have three main choices when it comes to spending and taxes. First, the new government could change the fiscal rules to give itself more fiscal space. Second, it could keep the current fiscal rules and …
Rates on hold until 2025 Poland’s central bank (NBP) left its policy rate on hold at 5.75% today and policymakers are likely to maintain fairly hawkish communications as inflation rebounds in the second half of the year. We don’t expect the easing cycle …
The global economy has been marked by the outperformance of the US economy and its financial markets. But past performance is no guarantee of future results. Will the structural, financial and political forces which have driven the success of the US …
4th June 2024
Inflation has been stickier than we had expected and we have therefore pushed back when we think the Bank will start cutting interest rates. That may put a little upward pressure on property yields over the next couple of months. But we still think …
This webpage has been updated with additional analysis. Headline inflation unchanged in May, doubts about future rate cuts Switzerland’s inflation rate remained at 1.4% in May as an increase in rents was offset by a further fall in core goods prices. …
Having lagged behind other emerging market (EM) currencies for most of the post-pandemic period, the Polish zloty has lead the pack over the past six months. While we think that most of this rally has now run its course, we expect the zloty to stay …
3rd June 2024
With the government debt-to-GDP ratio likely to trend up over the medium term, and the budget deficit set to stay above 3% of GDP, we suspect that France will be subject to further rating downgrades in future. The risks are significantly higher in the …
Russia outperforming, CEE continues to struggle The manufacturing PMIs for May show a divergence in the region, with conditions improving slightly in Czechia and Russia’s economy continuing to boom. But industry weakened sharply in Poland and Turkish …
Inflation surprises to the upside, bumpy disinflation lies ahead The stronger-than-expected rise in Turkish inflation to 75.45% y/y in May (consensus 74.8%) is slightly disappointing. It had looked like price pressures were easing in recent months, but …
The European Central Bank is likely to become the first major advanced economy central bank to cut rates since the end of the pandemic when it meets this Thursday – easing policy ahead of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. It’s a move that’s …
2nd June 2024
Russian tax hikes: important but not large enough The tax hikes announced by the Russian finance ministry this week will help to plug the hole created by the growing military budget, but won’t deliver the scale of fiscal tightening needed to stop the …
31st May 2024
The key event next week will of course be Thursday’s ECB meeting which we have previewed separately in our ECB Watch . In brief, we think the Bank will go ahead and cut its deposit rate from 4.00% to 3.75% but now expect it to leave rates on hold in July …
With both Labour and the Conservatives this week ruling out increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT, it remains difficult to see how cuts to public services can be avoided after the election. (For all our election analyses, see here .) But …
Our View: We expect equities to outperform most other assets as a bubble fuelled by AI-enthusiasm continues to inflate, supported by a backdrop of resilient economic growth and monetary easing cycles In particular, we expect US equities to continue to …
Having pre-committed to doing so, we think the ECB will cut rates next week. But given the jump in services inflation in May, we now expect a pause in July. We forecast the ECB to cut its deposit rate to 3% by year-end. Having agreed to do so at their …
The US puts up trade barriers, will Europe follow? The US announced that it is ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar panels. We covered the announcement and its implications across our Climate, Global, …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Increase in inflation won’t stop ECB from cutting next week May’s increases in headline and core inflation – and jump in services inflation to a seven-month high – won’t stop the …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Drag on activity from high interest rates continues to fade While April’s money and lending figures suggest the recent rebound in the housing market is cooling and households …
Net lending subdued on the back of rising interest rates Following two consecutive quarters of declines, net lending to property reached £891m in April. The increase was driven by a £731m rise in lending to standing investments, but development lending …
Acceleration in growth, with rebalancing under the surface The strength in Turkey’s economy in Q1 – GDP expanded by a whopping 2.4% q/q – was driven by a large boost from net trade while private consumption growth slowed sharply. This offers signs that …
Persistently high mortgage rates cause prices to stagnate Despite a small increase in the Nationwide house price index in May, the big picture is that the slight rise in mortgage rates since the start of the year has caused house prices to stagnate. The …
Overview – Capital values for most property sectors are now close to bottoming out, but with yields set for a period of stability the recovery will be modest by past standards. We expect all-property total returns to average 7.5% p.a. over 2024-28. That’s …
30th May 2024
During the coming months, we expect falling goods and energy inflation to pull down the headline inflation rate in Sweden. This should encourage policymakers to cut rates from 3.75% currently to 3.00% by the end of the year. However, we are not pencilling …
Recovery in regional sentiment takes a breather The European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicators for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were a mixed bag in May and our regional-weighted measure edged down slightly. Even so, that still leaves …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. EC Survey points to weak economic growth and easing price pressures The EC business and consumer survey for May is consistent with weak growth in euro-zone GDP, while price …
We expect the 10-year Bund yield to fall by the end of the year as the ECB loosens policy more than investors are currently discounting. Judging by the initial fall in 10-year Bund yield this morning, German state-level inflation data released earlier in …
29th May 2024
The stickiness of inflation in April has led us to shift back our forecast for the timing of the first interest rate cut from 5.25% from June to August. Even so, our view that CPI inflation will fall from 2.3% in April to below 1.5% by the end of this …
Sovereign bond yields in Russia have surged to multi-year highs this year as markets have increasingly questioned the trade-off between the war effort on the one hand and policymakers’ ability to maintain fiscal stability and control inflation on the …
While German property yields stabilised in Q1, further indications of rising distress give us confidence in our view that property values there have not yet reached the bottom. The stabilisation in German prime all-property yields in Q1 has led some to …
The latest IPF Consensus Survey showed limited change on the previous forecast round in March. There was a small upward revision to all-property rental growth expectations for 2024, but a downgrade to total return expectations, which implies yields are …
