Filtered by Region: Europe Use setting Europe
A Q4 fall in GDP The 4.9% increase in Polish GDP over 2022 as a whole is consistent with a slowdown in growth to around 1.6% y/y in Q4 and a small quarterly decline in output of around 0.5% q/q, confirming that the economy slumped towards the end of the …
30th January 2023
Recession not off the table yet The fall in German GDP in Q4 suggests that the energy crisis started to dent activity at the end of last year. This pours cold water on the recent optimism about the prospects for the euro-zone and suggests that a technical …
A streak of stronger-than-expected economic data in the euro-zone has given markets there a boost this year. But with much of the good news seemingly already discounted, and, in our view, a still hawkish ECB, we expect rallies in equities and government …
27th January 2023
Turkish policymakers deepen de-dollarisation Turkish policymakers deepened their “lira-isation” drive this week by increasing the incentive for firms to convert their FX into lira, but we’re not convinced that the policy changes will be successful and …
Yields have continued to surprise on the upside, with the all-property equivalent yield rising by 106bps in the three months to December. That matches the worst months of the GFC, and even though rental growth has held up capital values ended the year …
Outlook better, but still bad There has been a marked improvement in sentiment towards the euro-zone recently as activity indicators have come in stronger than expected. Euro-zone GDP now looks likely to have flat-lined in the fourth quarter and January’s …
Whither the Norwegian krone? Norway’s position as a major oil and gas exporter means that movements in its currency are typically correlated with moves in energy prices. But since the start of 2021, the krone has failed to keep pace with the rise in oil …
The recent persistence of inflation leads us to think that the Bank of England will proceed with another 50 basis point (bps) rise in Bank Rate, from 3.50% now to 4.00% next Thursday. (See here .) We will be discussing the policy outlooks for the BoE, the …
The reversal of temporary subsidies and changes to weightings will probably push headline German HICP inflation back up in January. But the bigger picture remains that the headline rate will fall sharply this year and that the ECB will continue to focus …
Euro-zone investment contracted sharply in Q4 2022 and we think further interest rate rises will prolong this weakness throughout much of this year. But we expect a recovery in transactions towards the end of the year, when economic activity should be …
December’s euro-zone money and credit data show that the effects of rising interest rates were starting to be felt. Households and firms shifted their money into longer-term deposits which are less likely to be spent, and lending growth slowed. Overall, …
GDP up in Q4, but still struggling to reach past peaks Spain’s GDP increased in Q4 and is performing better than we expected only a couple of months ago. But Spain is still a laggard in Europe, with the economy smaller than it was before Covid. We think …
Although we think there is still a decent case for UK equities to continue outperforming those in the US over the next few years, we don’t expect the UK’s stock market to perform significantly better than stock markets in the euro-zone over that period, …
26th January 2023
Overview – 2023 will be the most difficult year for the housing market since 2008. Mortgage rates remain very high by the standards of recent years and can’t drop materially until the Bank of England shifts from raising interest rates to cutting them. …
A 50bp rate hike next week seems to be literally a done deal. The recent strength of the economy means ECB will hike further. Quantitative tightening looks set to accelerate from June. With a 50bp rate hike at next week’s ECB meeting seemingly a done …
Despite some good news, another 50bps rate hike is most likely Next phase will be MPC pausing to assess influence of higher rates, but we’re not there yet Next big surprise may be that rates are cut by more than investors expect in 2024 Another 50 basis …
Occupier demand contracts further as the economy slows The slowing economy led to a further fall in occupier demand in Q4, with retail seeing the largest contraction. So far, the fall in rental expectations has been relatively modest and surveyors expect …
S ince the end of last year, developments have been more positive in the retail sector. However, we still think 2023 will be a difficult year. The weak outlook for consumer spending and more spending online and in out-of-town shops point to rising high …
25th January 2023
Recession might be avoided, but outlook still poor The further increase in the Ifo Business Climate Index in January confirms that the recovery in German business sentiment that started at the end of 2022 has continued this year. But the fall in its …
Recession might be avoided, but outlook still poor The renewed increase in the Ifo Business Climate Index in January confirms that the recovery in German business sentiment that started at the end of 2022 has continued this year. But the fall in its …
We expect the Bank of Canada to hike by 25bp… (15.00 GMT) … and clients can register here for our Drop-In following that decision (17.00 GMT) We think rates will be raised by 25bp in Thailand and be left on hold in Sri Lanka Key Market Themes Today's …
24th January 2023
As 2023’s calendar of central bank meetings began, we held a special briefing on the first Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England policy decisions of the year. Chief Global Economist Jennifer McKeown lead a discussion with economists …
A closer look at Spain’s inflation data shows that there are significant measurement difficulties affecting both energy and core price data. However, we still expect measured headline inflation to remain lower in Spain than in most of the euro-zone and …
Recent data have shown that activity in the US is weakening as we had expected while that in the euro-zone has been surprisingly resilient. The resilience seems to reflect a combination of supply and demand factors, including easing shortages, lower gas …
Interest rate cuts still some way off Hungary’s central bank (MNB) left its base rate on hold today, at 13.00%, and we don’t think that it will cut its main policy interest rates until late-2023. In the meantime, we expect that the MNB will continue to …
Recession on the cards for 2023 The renewed fall in the flash UK composite PMI in January suggests that some of the resilience in economic activity towards the back end of 2022 petered out in early 2023. That supports our view that the economy is …
Further improvement in activity amid high prices pressures The increase in the flash euro-zone Composite PMI for January left it consistent with the economy roughly stagnating. With employment intentions and price pressures still high, there is nothing …
Recession on the cards in 2023 The renewed fall in the flash UK Composite PMI in January suggests that some of the resilience in economic activity towards the back end of 2022 started to peter out in early 2023. While still very high, the price indices …
Further improvement in activity amid high prices pressures The increase in the flash euro-zone Composite PMI for January was a little better than expected and left it consistent with the economy roughly stagnating. With employment intentions and price …
Big Budget giveaways will have to wait until March 2024 December’s worse-than-expected public finances figures suggest the Chancellor will wait until closer to the next election before announcing any significant tax cuts and/or spending rises. Public …
Borrowing overshoot further limits chances of big Budget giveaways December’s public finances figures provided more evidence that the government’s fiscal position is deteriorating fast. And high government spending in the early months of 2022/23 and the …
The flash PMI might have edged up in the euro-zone in January… (09.00 GMT) … but we think it fell back in the UK (09.30 GMT) We expect central banks in Hungary and Nigeria to keep interest rates on hold Key Market Themes We don’t think government bond …
23rd January 2023
The shift away from variable towards fixed-rate mortgages in many European countries over the past 15 years means that it will take longer than in the past for interest rate hikes by the ECB to feed through to household interest expenditure. This …
Near term economic headwinds suggest the slowdown in investment activity in Scandinavia will continue in 2023. However, with policy rates near a peak, and improving economic activity and falling bond yields expected later in the year, we think that the …
We now think German industry will continue to grow in the coming months as lower gas prices, easing supply shortages and high backlogs of orders support production. One of the reasons for the resilience of the German economy in the face of the energy …
20th January 2023
CPI inflation is falling and the Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, sounded optimistic this week when he said that “a corner had been turned on inflation”. But he and most other Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members will probably still be …
The improvement in recent data and brightening outlook continues to be the key talking point for euro-zone-watchers. In brief, it looks as if euro-zone GDP may not have contracted in Q4 2022 after all, and the prospects for this year have brightened …
Disappointing end to a difficult year The 1.0% m/m fall in retail sales volumes in December was much worse than both we and the consensus (+0.5% m/m) had expected. That meant sales volumes fell 1.3% q/q in Q4 and were a disappointing 5.4% below their …
Disappointing end to a difficult year The surprise 1.0 % m/m fall in retail sales volumes (consensus +0.5%) meant that sales volumes fell by 1.3% q/q over Q4 as a whole and ended the year a disappointing 5.4% below their level at the start of the year. …
The account of the December meeting, along with data released since then and recent comments from policymakers, suggest the ECB will raise its deposit rate from 2% to 3% by March rather than May as we had previously expected, and that QT will accelerate …
19th January 2023
CBRT continues with policy pause Turkey’s central bank (CBRT) left its main policy rate unchanged at 9.00% as expected today and our central view is that rates will remain on hold in the coming months. But with inflation now falling sharply and the …
Demand for mortgages collapses due to spike in mortgage rates The Q4 2022 Credit Conditions Survey shows that while lenders tightened lending criteria in the aftermath of the “mini” budget, the main constraint on lending volumes was a collapse in demand …
Norges Bank tightening nearly over The Norges Bank eased off the brakes today by leaving policy on hold, but signalled that it will raise its policy rate at the next meeting in March. We suspect that will be the final hike in this tightening cycle, and …
Underlying price pressures still strong The euro-zone has probably passed peak inflation as sharp declines in food and energy inflation are set to drag down the headline rate. But December’s final HICP data showed that underlying inflation remained …
18th January 2023
Movements in REIT pricing provide a good indication of where property capital values are heading. And the latest data are consistent with our expectation that all-property values will see a peak-to-trough fall of around 20% by the end of this year. But …
Inflation may be falling, but services inflation is still too strong for comfort The small drop in CPI inflation from 10.7% in November to 10.5% in December (consensus forecast 10.5%) and the unchanged core rate of 6.3% (consensus 6.2%) suggest the …
Inflation is falling, but services inflation still too strong for comfort The small fall in CPI inflation from 10.7% in November to 10.5% in December (consensus forecast 10.5%) and unchanged core rate 6.3% (consensus 6.2%) suggests it is too early for the …
The process of “global fracturing” that we outlined in our annual Spotlight series last year will remain the dominant macro theme for the next decade. But speculation that it will result in the rise of a “petroyuan” on a scale sufficient to challenge …
17th January 2023
