Filtered by Region: Europe Use setting Europe
The Hamas-Israeli conflict has so far had relatively little impact on oil prices but has pushed up European natural gas prices by nearly 30% this week, to €53 per MWh at the time of writing. There has been a small direct impact on the supply of gas as …
13th October 2023
Industrial rental growth in the Nordics is set to slow in 2024. But a brighter macroeconomic outlook and tight vacancy will help rent growth to outperform the euro-zone. Further ahead, the current high level of online adoption relative to the euro-zone …
Fall in inflation but Riksbank still not done This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. The drop in inflation in September was a little smaller than we and the consensus had anticipated and strengthens the case for the …
Surging interest rates caused mortgage demand to slump in Q3 at the same time as rising defaults led lenders to tighten mortgage credit conditions. Similarly, it became more difficult to secure commercial real estate loans. We expect availability of …
12th October 2023
Higher interest rates weighed sharply on households’ demand for mortgages in Q3 and banks expect demand for mortgages to fall further in Q4. This is a clear sign that higher interest rates are working. And our forecast that mortgage rates will stay above …
In contrast to the past few years, when the risks to the euro-zone inflation outlook have been consistently skewed to the upside, those risks now look more balanced. So in this Focus , we explore the downside risks and how the ECB might respond to them. …
We think euro-zone equities’ recent run of underperformance relative to those in the US will extend over the next couple of years, as bond yields fall back and enthusiasm around “AI” continues to grow. With the bond market sell-off seemingly having abated …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. August’s resilience won’t prevent contraction in GDP in Q3 The 0.2% m/m rise in real GDP in August followed July’s 0.6% m/m contraction and will raise hopes that the economy has …
Surveyors reported the most widespread price falls since February 2009 in September as mortgage rates of over 5% took their toll. Looking ahead, a further slide in house prices appears inevitable. The drop in the past prices balance to a fresh 14-year low …
Inflation now starting to take off The larger-than-expected rise in Russian inflation to 6.0% y/y in September will concern policymakers at the central bank and suggests that price pressures are now well and truly building in the economy. We think the …
11th October 2023
Note: We previewed Poland’s election and the economic and financial market issues surrounding it in a Drop-In on Thursday, 12 th October . Watch the 20-minute recording here . The outcome of Poland’s parliamentary election this Sunday will likely have a …
There may be more political support for the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the European Union than in some other economies. However, it is still uncertain whether it will ever see the light of day or whether there would be much …
First clear signs of slowdown emerge The m/m falls in Turkish retail sales and industrial production in August provided the first clear signs that economic activity has started to soften following the policy U-turn earlier this year. Policy tightening …
Labour has made housing a major theme of its conference, and the party’s attitude towards New Towns and social housing means that the next election could prove a turning point in the structure of the UK housing market. Over the past 30 years successive …
10th October 2023
Fall in inflation increases chances of November rate cut The larger-than-expected fall in Czech inflation in September, to 6.9% y/y, increases the chance of policymakers kickstarting a monetary easing cycle at their next meeting in November. We remain …
Lower inflation suggests that Norges Bank is done As a result of September’s weaker-than-expected inflation data from Norway, we now think that Norges Bank’s tightening cycle is over . The decline in CPI inflation from 4.8% in August to 3.3% in September …
The recent shift towards looser fiscal policy in Italy and increase in sovereign bond yields once again have raised concerns that investors may lose confidence in Italy’s ability to sustain its debt burden. We don’t think this will morph into an acute …
9th October 2023
The scale of the rise in bond yields over recent weeks has provoked worries about the impact on real estate. The sell-off presents an upside risk to our yield outlook, but we think falling inflation will help bond yields across the region to soon fall …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Weakness in German industry to continue The further drop in German industrial production in August was better than it looked as it was driven by volatile components. However, it …
We expect the euro-zone economy to struggle over the next 18 months, and a mild recession in the coming quarters looks more likely than not. Headline and core inflation should keep falling, but the labour market will remain tight, keeping wage growth …
6th October 2023
Turkey: rebalancing now underway Data releases this week finally provided some signs that Turkey’s inflation and current account problems are starting to ease. Admittedly, inflation continued to rise in September, to 61.5% y/y, from 58.9% in August. But …
The recent rise in gilt yields has been almost as fast as the political furore over the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 this week. The 30-year gilt yield rose from 4.68% at the start of last week to a 20-year high of 5.06% at the time of writing …
What to make of the bond market sell-off? We have covered the implications of the bond sell-off for the global economy here . Three additional points are worth making in relation to the euro-zone. First, the increase in yields and associated tightening of …
Becoming liable for the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) would nullify any cost-reduction benefit from a lower carbon price for UK companies that trade closely with the EU. That said, the CBAM would have less impact on domestically-focused …
Near-term momentum in house prices is downwards The sixth consecutive monthly decline in the Halifax House Price Index in September leaves it significantly more downbeat than the Nationwide figures about near-term momentum in house prices. Given the …
While we think the risk of a material increase in euro-zone “peripheral” spreads has risen, our central forecast remains that they will end 2024 a bit below their current levels. Last week, long-dated euro-zone peripheral bond yields reached highs not …
5th October 2023
NBR holding firm in inflation fight The National Bank of Romania (NBR) kept its main policy rate unchanged at 7.00% today, and we expect policy to remain on hold into next year. The NBR will be the last in Central and Eastern Europe to start cutting …
Overview – With economic activity weakening, we expect rental growth to continue trending downwards over the next year. At the same time, valuations remain stretched despite property yields continuing to rise at a steady pace. As a result, we have …
4th October 2023
Slowing momentum in activity, the recent decline in employment, and the sharp falls in core CPI and services inflation in August are clear signs that higher interest rates are weighing more heavily on the economy. This strengthens our view that the mild …
NBP cuts again, but rates won’t fall as far as most expect The National Bank of Poland’s (NBP’s) decision to cut interest rates again today, from 6.00% to 5.75%, suggests that the doves are ruling the roost on the MPC, but we think that interest rates …
The resilience of investment in the euro-zone to higher interest rates and slowing economic growth at the start of the year appears to have been driven in part by the gradual clearing of backlogs in various industries. This has now come to an end and we …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Euro-zone headed for recession The drop in retail sales in August and weakness in the final PMIs for September are consistent with our view that the euro-zone economy will fall …
While some measures of optimism have been improving, the majority of the survey evidence suggests the economy is weakening and the chances of the mild recession we have been forecasting have increased. The 0.5% m/m fall in real GDP in July and the decline …
This publication has been updated with additional analysis. Inflation rising, but not for long The rise in Switzerland’s headline inflation rate in September was largely due to the increase in oil prices in recent months, which caused energy inflation to …
3rd October 2023
Buying a first home has become increasingly difficult over the past 30 years. A high income is still essential, but other circumstances such as whether the individual is buying as part of a joint-income couple or has significant family wealth have become …
2nd October 2023
We suspect that before the end of the year, the ECB will announce that it will end PEPP reinvestments before the end of 2024. This would allow the ECB to shrink its balance sheet more quickly and reinforce the message that monetary policy will remain …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. PMIs increase, but CEE industry still in the doldrums The manufacturing PMIs increased across most of Emerging Europe last month, but remained consistent with weak industrial …
Pause in price falls unlikely to mark the trough The stabilisation of house prices in September was a surprise given mortgage rates are still well above the level which allowed the first leg down in house prices to bottom out. But leading indicators of …
While concerns about euro-zone public finances put upward pressure on bond yields there, the outlook for inflation will probably remain the focus for investors . In our view, that means bond yields in the euro-zone will fall by end-2024, but by much less …
29th September 2023
Fair value calculations combine valuation analysis with a forward-looking view of rents. As such, these estimates reinforce our existing view that there is scope for declines in euro-zone yields, albeit limited. They also confirm that these falls are very …
The increase in euro-zone bond yields earlier this week was a function of shifting global sentiment rather than a response to news from Europe itself. But it is a reminder that there are still underlying concerns about euro-zone public finances. In a week …
MNB and CNB continuing to toe a hawkish line The Hungarian and Czech central banks maintained fairly hawkish communications at their meetings this week, but we still think that interest rates will fall sharply in both countries by mid-2024. The Hungarian …
After the huge upward revisions to the level of GDP in Q4 2021 announced at the start of September, which resulted in the UK leapfrogging Germany to sixth place in the league table of best performing G7 economies since the pandemic (see here ), Friday’s …
The risks and opportunities from climate UK Prime Minister Sunak’s recent speech on climate policies was obviously a highly visible change in stance. But as we highlighted in last month’s Climate Economics Monthly , the rowing back on climate policies in …
The Italian government’s decision to raise its deficit targets suggests it is trying to get away with as little fiscal tightening as possible. With EU fiscal rules set to come back into force next year, that raises the risk of tensions escalating between …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Monetary policy to stay tight despite big fall in inflation September’s sharp drop in euro-zone inflation was largely due to base effects, but core inflation also came in below …
Approvals to remain weak for the next six months The further decline in mortgage approvals in August to their lowest level since the aftermath of last autumn's “mini” budget showed that high mortgage rates are keeping home purchase demand very weak. Our …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Higher interest rates weighing more heavily on lending The drag from higher interest rates on bank lending grew further in August, particularly in the housing market. Although …
Softer inflation print raises the chance of another rate cut The sharper-than-expected decline in Polish inflation to 8.2% y/y in September raises the chance of another interest rate cut by the central bank at its meeting next week but, at this point, we …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. GDP growth nudged up, but resilience won't last The final Q2 2023 GDP data release shows that the economy was a bit more resilient in the first half of this year than we …
