Asia Chart Pack (October 2024) …
29th October 2024
Net lending to property sees another decent rise Net lending to property totalled £1.33bn in September, essentially unchanged from the previous month. Lending to standing assets was responsible for all of that total, with net lending to development seeing …
Budget has yet to affect households’ financial decisions Although consumer confidence has fallen ahead of the Budget, there is little evidence in September’s money and lending figures that Budget worries are having a big influence on households’ financial …
Economy contracts, but outlook is strong Preliminary data show that Sweden’s economy contracted by 0.1% q/q in the third quarter, far below the consensus expectation and the Riksbank’s forecasts (0.5% and 0.2% respectively). At face value this may suggest …
Our ANZ Chart Pack has been updated with the latest data and our analysis of recent developments. The Antipodean central banks will tread different paths on policy over the forecast horizon. With the New Zealand economy in a tailspin and inflation well …
Equities have held up well in the face of the sell-off in Treasuries over the past month, although they have struggled to break to new highs over the past couple of weeks. But w e doubt that pattern will last; our base case remains that bond yields will …
28th October 2024
The NCREIF Q3 index posted a positive return for the first time in two years, with only offices recording a negative outturn. But with firmer evidence that poorly capitalized banks have been less likely to mark loans as non-performing, as well as …
In light of the worsening outlook for economic growth and inflation in the euro-zone, we are making major downward revisions to our ECB interest rate forecast. We now think the Bank will implement back-to-back 50bp rate cuts in December and January, and …
With the Conservatives currently on track to win a clear majority at the next federal election, which is due by October 2025 but could come much earlier, there is a high chance that the carbon tax will soon be scrapped. We do not think this would alter …
While the perceived probability of a Trump win has increased over recent weeks, we believe there is still ample scope for a sizeable repricing across markets once the election outcome becomes clear. We think a Republican “sweep” would probably lead to …
Investor sentiment towards Argentina has improved significantly in the past few months and it now looks like the government will probably be able to make the sovereign debt repayments that are due next year. But there are still no real signs that the …
Maybe it’s the approach of Halloween that spooks the bond market so much. Two years ago, the UK government’s “mini Budget” triggered a meltdown in the gilt market and ultimately ended Liz Truss’s short but chaotic time as Prime Minister. Government bond …
The possibility of looser fiscal policy than previous planned in the upcoming UK Budget on 30 th October suggests the risks to our forecast that the 10-year gilt yield will fall to 3.50% by end-2025 are skewed to the upside, even if a repeat of the …
LDP election loss heralds era of political instability Following its poor showing in yesterday’s Lower House elections, the LDP will need to form an untested coalition to remain in power which will undermine its ability to push through major pieces of …
27th October 2024
With the US election approaching, questions about its economic and market impact are on the rise. In our recent special briefing, our senior economists offered critical insights into the possible economic shifts resulting from this election, covering the …
25th October 2024
Perhaps the most frequently asked question of the Capital Economics team is around fiscal risks and their implications for financial markets. There were more incoming this past week as Donald Trump looked to be doing better in the polls and more details …
The US dollar has continued to edge higher this week even in the absence of much economic data, suggesting that the gradual shift in the US election odds in favour of former president Trump continues to provide a tailwind for the greenback. With a week …
Trump-Musk Bromance: Economic implications Elon Musk has become one of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign supporters and donors in recent months, contributing $75 million to his America PAC and sharing the stage at events with the former President. Musk and …
Has Poland’s consumer recovery gone into reverse? The downside surprise in Polish retail sales data this week was the biggest at any point in the past decade. (See Chart 1.) In contrast to expectations for a slight slowdown in growth to +2.0% y/y in …
Brazil: fiscal dominance on the cards? Policymakers at Brazil’s central bank have sounded increasingly alarmed in recent media comments. Part of that reflects concerns that the economy may be overheating. We looked at that in detail in a piece earlier …
Bank steps up the pace of loosening The Bank’s shift to a larger interest rate cut this week, which took the policy rate down to 3.75% (see here ), created some confusion among commentators. Some wondered why the Bank felt the need to act more …
Dead Nigeria Shell oil deal sign of local firm worries This week Nigeria rejected Shell’s sale of its onshore oil business, the latest multinational attempt to divest from Nigeria. Lower foreign investment makes us less hopeful on Nigeria’s oil production …
Stage set for a softer fourth quarter While the fall in durable goods orders in September was mostly due to the volatile transportation components, the decline in underlying capital goods shipments will still drag on business equipment investment. The …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Upside risks to the Bank’s consumption forecasts growing The increase in retail sales in August and flash estimate for another rise in September poses an upside risk to the Bank …
Having behaved “normally” over the summer, gold has slipped back into anti-traditional-driver mode in recent weeks. The ~4% rise in the gold price since the start of October has come alongside sharp rises in US Treasury yields and the dollar. Soberingly, …
Our central forecast is that there won’t be a fiscally induced ‘crisis’ in the Treasury market. But there is clearly a risk of yields rising in response to higher term premia and more restrictive monetary policy than would otherwise be the case, if the US …
This week’s news has persuaded us that the ECB is likely to cut interest rates further and faster than we previously thought. We now see a greater-than-even chance of a 50bp rate cut in December, and think the “terminal” rate in this cycle will be below …
Why does the new rule allow more borrowing? The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has confirmed that in next week’s Budget she will shift from targeting the Public Sector Net Debt excluding the Bank of England (PSND Ex BoE) measure of government debt to another …
Surprise 200bp hike takes policy rate to a new high The decision by the Russian central bank (CBR) to hike its policy rate by a larger-than-expected 200bp today, to 21.00%, is evidence that – despite President Putin’s efforts at this week’s BRICS summit …
Weak GDP data may give BoK second thoughts National accounts data published on Thursday showed that Korea only narrowly avoided a technical recession, with GDP expanding by just 0.1% q/q in Q3 after a 0.2% decline in Q2. The main drag came from exports, …
Fiscal package may be revealed in two weeks At its 12 th October press conference, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) offered some reassurances that fiscal spending would pick up in the final months of this year and stay supportive into 2025. But it didn’t …
We suspect Asian currencies would underperform under a Trump presidency, even if they don’t seem to have been affected worse than others by the apparent rise in his chances of winning lately. At face value, it’s surprising how well Asia’s currencies …
New bank lending has risen recently as the interest rates on loans have begun to edge down, but it is still weak. While it will probably continue to increase gradually in the coming months, the ECB might need to cut its policy rates substantially to give …
The past week has been one of the more eventful for India in recent memory on the geopolitical front. The most eye-catching development was an agreement with China on patrolling arrangements along their disputed border in the Himalayas. News of the …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Germany stuck in recession The rise in the Ifo Business Climate Index in October still left it deep in recessionary territory. With growth in the rest of the euro-zone also weak, …
October surprise? The result of Japan’s Lower House election should be clear by early Monday morning. The new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, called Sunday’s vote to take advantage of a revival in the government’s popularity since he replaced Fumio …
Inflation concerns appear misplaced At an event organised by the Peterson Institute this week, RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr suggested that the Bank was likely to be more circumspect about loosening policy going forward. The Governor argued that it was …
The government’s new immigration plan implies that the population will decline by 0.2% in both 2025 and 2026, a huge shift from population growth of almost 3% over the past two years. That means GDP growth is likely to remain subdued in the next couple of …
24th October 2024
We think a pick-up in global growth and the further inflation of a US equity bubble mean prospects for euro-zone equities are generally promising, despite sluggish economic growth in the region. European equities have risen, on net, so far today, more so …
Overview – With goods inflation vanquished, the last leg of disinflation in advanced economies must come from falling services inflation. After plateauing at the start of the year, services inflation has fallen in recent months, and we think that this …
The latest flash PMIs suggest that GDP growth got off to a weak start in Q4 in most major advanced economies. The surveys also imply a slowdown in both services activity and employment growth in October, meaning that the ECB and Bank of England may up the …
The latest activity data have brought further evidence that India’s economy has entered a softer patch. Coupled with the RBI's change in policy stance in its October meeting, this suggests that monetary policy easing is still likely before long, despite …
We expect the Boeing strike and two recent hurricanes to have temporarily cooled the labour market in October. We think non-farm payrolls rose by 100,000 while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%. Payroll growth limited by strike and hurricanes …
Pick-up in sales to be short-lived The increase in new home sales in September was probably supported by the fall in mortgage rates last month. Rates have rebounded since then, however, which lends support to our view that new home sales will not rise …
Al-Sisi demands review with IMF Comments from Egypt’s President al-Sisi over the past week pushing back against the pace of reforms under the current IMF deal has alarmed investors a little, but the bigger picture is that Egypt’s economy is in a far …
EM GDP growth picked up in Q3, but we expect growth to slow over the coming quarters - despite the recent stimulus announcements in China. The threat of more protectionist trade policy in the US poses an additional downside risk to our already …
Renewed jitters in bond markets in part reflect a nagging sense that inflation isn’t whipped. Headline rates have come back to target, but central banks in many economies are faced with still-sticky core inflation readings that investors worry will force …
Capital values are now recovering and, notwithstanding a recent rise in interest rates, will continue to do so. However, with not much prospect for yield compression the recovery will be weak by past standards. Thanks to stronger rental growth the …
