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The decision by Gazprom to cut natural gas supplies to Europe to 20% of capacity has caused gas prices to surge and raised the risk of energy shortages during the winter. A full gas cut-off would result in self-inflicted pain for Russia. For the rest of …
27th July 2022
Bank lending growth accelerated further in June, but lenders expect the demand for loans to slow sharply in the coming months, adding to the reasons to expect the economy to fall into recession. Meanwhile, banks in the periphery are tightening the Ts and …
A rebound in tourism will cushion some of the blow to Spanish prime retail demand caused by falling real incomes this year. But once inflation eventually eases, we expect rent growth to outperform other European markets, supported by a rebound in consumer …
25th July 2022
Heading for recession The further decline in the German Ifo Business Climate Index (BCI) in July adds to the evidence that the German economy is on the brink of a recession as high energy prices and worries about energy security take their toll on firms’ …
Almost exactly ten years on from Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes” speech, the ECB this week had another attempt at keeping a lid on peripheral bond spreads as it kicked off its first tightening cycle in more than a decade with a bigger-than-expected …
22nd July 2022
Production to remain sluggish this year Global steel production growth slowed in June as higher power costs in advanced economies contributed to lower output there. By contrast, the decline in China’s output slowed slightly. Overall, we expect global …
Danish policymakers won’t be rushed Given that Denmark’s Nationalbank operates an exchange rate peg with the euro, it was no surprise to see it mirror the 50bp rate hike by the ECB on Thursday afternoon. If anything, the only surprise was that it took …
Despite their recent rebound, we still think that “high-beta” developed market (DM) currencies will weaken further against the US dollar for the remainder of the year. DM currencies have risen against the greenback over the past week or so, reversing some …
Euro-zone on brink of recession July’s flash PMIs suggest that the euro-zone is teetering on the brink of recession due to slumping demand and rising costs while inflationary pressures remain intense. The ECB will have to follow up on yesterday’s historic …
Headline CPI inflation probably eased in Japan in June (00.30 BST) Rising prices probably weighed on June retail sales volumes in the UK (07.00 BST) We expect July’s flash PMIs to show that activity weakened in the euro-zone & the UK Key Market Themes …
21st July 2022
The ECB’s 50bp rate hike today is likely to be the first move in a sustained interest rate hiking cycle which we think will bring the deposit rate to around 2% next year. We also think the Bank will at some point have to use its new asset purchase …
Romania’s current account deficit is likely to rise to almost 9% of GDP this year. While a weaker currency would help to reduce this shortfall, structural reforms are needed to boost competitiveness in the long term. Until then, Romania’s deteriorating …
The near-term economic outlook has deteriorated in recent months and Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark are set for mild recessions in late 2022 and early 2023. This is partly a function of external weakness; as highly open economies, the recession in the …
Borrowing overshoot will limit next PM’s ability to help households June’s public finances figures provided more evidence that the government’s fiscal position is worse than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted back in March. This may …
It looks like Italy is heading for an early general election. While that won’t necessarily cause an economic and financial crisis, bond spreads are likely to widen regardless of what the ECB announces later today. After the Lega, Five Star Movement and …
Overview – Economies in Emerging Europe were resilient in the first half of this year, but the outlook has deteriorated markedly as headwinds have strengthened. Inflation is likely to continue rising and we think that GDP will do little more than stagnate …
20th July 2022
The Q2 ECB bank lending survey showed a tightening in credit standards for commercial property lending in the first half of the year, with expectations for a further squeeze in H2. With the cost of debt also higher, more restrictive credit will weigh on …
Strength of inflation will push ECB into aggressive tightening Final inflation data for June confirm that price pressures are very strong. Whether or not the ECB hikes by 50bp on Thursday, we think it will be the beginning of an aggressive 12 months of …
19th July 2022
Europe’s heightened demand for LNG will be enough to keep prices high this year and into 2023, particularly as LNG supply growth will be fairly limited . The Asia-based spot price for LNG, together with its European counterpart (TTF), soared in the wake …
18th July 2022
Despite the Q1 surge in investment activity, we think a weak rental outlook and stretched valuations will deter a sustained increase in investment, limiting the scope for further falls in prime industrial yields. There was strong investor demand for prime …
The apparent race to the bottom on taxes slowed this week with the candidates that had pledged to loosen fiscal policy the most if they became Prime Minister either withdrawing from the contest or being eliminated in the first two rounds of voting by MPs. …
15th July 2022
Monday went from bad to worse in Norway Monday proved a day to forget for Norwegian economists and football fans, with another increase in core inflation in the morning compounded by an 8-nil drubbing by England in the evening. Admittedly, the increase in …
Energy rationing now a growing downside risk Governments ramped up efforts this week to prevent possible shortages of energy during the winter. But with the threat of lower Russian gas flows increasing, there is a growing risk of energy rationing that …
New forecasts We published our quarterly European Economic Outlook this week, which contains all of our latest forecasts for the euro-zone, its member states and the ECB. In this Weekly , we will highlight three of our key calls on the economic outlook. …
ECB will raise its rates by 25bp and signal 50bp likely in September. Deposit rate will rise to +1.25% by year-end and +2.0% next year. Policymakers may not agree anti-fragmentation tool next week. ECB policymakers are likely to follow through on their …
14th July 2022
Overview – The euro-zone looks on course to fall into a mild recession in the coming quarters. Real incomes are falling, business sentiment has plummeted and growth in the region’s export markets is slowing. Nevertheless, the labour market is likely to …
If the return of political instability in Italy leads to an early election, government bond spreads are likely to widen, whether or not the ECB agrees the details of the Transmission Protection Mechanism next week. The Five Star Movement has abstained …
Lenders to tighten credit standards even as demand softens The Q2 credit conditions survey shows that lenders will not loosen credit conditions to keep the house price boom going like they did in 2004-2007. Indeed, despite the fact demand is expected to …
Stronger-than-expected inflation strengthens case for front loading hikes The stronger-than-expected increase in Swedish inflation in June will only strengthen the resolve of policymakers to squeeze inflation out of the system and raises the chance that …
We expect Chile’s central bank to hike by 50bp (Wed. 23.00 BST) Inflation in Sweden probably rose further above target last month (Thurs. 07.00 BST) Clients can watch our Drop-In on the latest US CPI surprise here Key Market Themes While we expect …
13th July 2022
Structural changes to how we live, work and shop have supported retail warehouse rents over the last couple of years relative to other retail sub-sectors. We expect this outperformance will continue, although even here rental growth will slow as consumer …
We doubt the fall in the euro will lead to a material increase in overseas investment this year. Rather, we think investor demand will be underpinned by the euro-zone’s economic and property fundamentals, for which the outlook has weakened sharply. The …
Outlook for manufacturing weak, despite increase in production May’s 0.8% monthly increase in euro-zone industrial production was largely due to a huge rise in Ireland’s output. Excluding Ireland, production decreased slightly in May. Moreover, …
Consumer prices in the US are likely to have risen again in June (13.30 BST) Growth of exports out of China probably edged lower in June We expect interest rate hikes in Canada, New Zealand, Korea and Chile Key Market Themes While the euro ’s rapid fall …
12th July 2022
The euro hit parity against the US dollar today and we wouldn’t be surprised if it falls further. While we think it would take big moves in the trade-weighted exchange rate for the ECB to intervene in FX markets, at the margin the euro’s fall adds to the …
The slowdown in the Swedish housing market has the potential to delay the recovery in the retail sector this year, as it weighs on retail sales and makes conversions to residential even less viable. This would add to what is already a weak outlook for the …
Capital outflows from EMs picked up over the past month and are likely to persist over the rest of the year. That’s a particular threat to those EMs whose current account deficits have widened or are widening sharply, including Turkey, Chile and parts of …
Inflation continues to drop back The further decline in Russia’s headline inflation rate to 15.9% y/y in June confirms that inflation has already passed its peak and we expect price pressures to ease further over the coming months. This is likely to …
8th July 2022
While the largest increases in corporate spreads in the US and the euro-zone may now be behind us, we suspect that a challenging economic backdrop will keep spreads elevated in both places for some time . The option-adjusted spreads (OAS) of ICE BofA ML’s …
MNB pulls out all of the stops to support the forint Hungary’s economy is now under substantial pressure. The forint has slumped and interest rates have been hiked aggressively. The only way through this is to accept the pain of a weak currency and …
The rise in interest rates and bond yields has put property yields back under the microscope. Property valuations are now stretched and a traditional fair value analysis points toward a rise in property yields, which aligns with our view of a 40bps rise …
Headwinds to strengthen in H2 The 0.7% m/m increase in Statistics Sweden’s GDP Indicator in May (data released on Wednesday) was stronger than we had expected and means the economy is all but certain to have grown more quickly in Q2 than the 0.6% q/q rise …
At time of writing, the euro is at its weakest in almost two decades, hovering above our end-year forecast of parity with the US dollar. As our Global Markets team explained earlier this week in the Capital Daily , the euro’s depreciation has reflected …
Weak economy may lead to looser fiscal policy There are two reasons why whoever fills Boris Johnson’s shoes as Prime Minister after his resignation this week is unlikely to significantly change the path of policy or the economy. First, all PM hopefuls …
We think US non-farm payroll employment slowed to a decent 250,000 in June (13.30 BST) Headline inflation probably picked up further in Brazil last month (13.00 BST) Meanwhile employment growth in June probably also slowed in Canada (13.30 BST) Key Market …
7th July 2022
We suspect that the latest political turmoil in the UK adds to the reasons to expect a renewed rise in the 10-year Gilt yield, weakness in the pound, and continued trouble for the FTSE 100. The market reaction to the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime …
Very high inflation and low unemployment are driving German unions to seek big pay rises in this year’s collective negotiations. We think nominal pay growth will be in the region of 4-5% this year and 3-4% in 2023. Although this would result in …
Our updated yield model points to a quicker rise in property yields than our forecast suggests. While we still expect the correction to be mild, not least because of the lower share of property debt this cycle, this poses a downside risk to capital values …
German industry probably contracted in Q2 May’s small rise in industrial production in Germany was not big enough to change our view that output in the sector is likely to have declined in the second quarter. And with the timelier surveys softening in …
The latest data suggest that underlying inflationary pressures in the euro-zone remain intense. Although core inflation edged down from 3.8% in May to 3.7% in June, this appeared to be down to temporary policy changes in Germany that will weigh on …
6th July 2022
