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As things stand, higher oil prices will boost inflation in advanced economies by only a few tenths of a percentage point in the months ahead and we still expect this boost to fade as the year goes on. There are upside risks relating to tensions in the …
16th April 2024
The resilience of Swiss GDP over the past two years has been largely due to the merchanting sector, which buys and sells goods without them ever entering Switzerland. Excluding that sector, the economy was smaller at the end of 2023 than it was two years …
The ECB’s decision to update its guidance suggests that an interest rate cut at the next meeting in June is very likely. Christine Lagarde would understandably not commit to a path of rate cuts, but we expect the Bank to reduce the deposit rate from 4% …
11th April 2024
After a period of relative calm, Italy’s fragile public finances are likely to come under the spotlight again before long. Budget deficits will be much higher than the latest government projections imply and Italy will probably face official EU procedures …
10th April 2024
The Q1 ECB Bank Lending Survey suggests that the drag on lending growth from tight monetary policy continued to ease. But the data remain consistent with broadly stagnant consumption and declines in investment. For the first time since late 2021, banks …
9th April 2024
ECB officials have stressed that evidence of easing wage growth will be key in determining the timing of the first rate cut. Accordingly, this Update assesses which of the euro-zone’s numerous wage measures investors should keep their eyes on. The main …
3rd April 2024
The cost to the euro-zone of the universal tariff which Donald Trump has proposed, along with other likely spillovers from his trade policies, may result in a hit to the euro-zone economy of up to half a percent of GDP. The damage would be bigger if this …
2nd April 2024
February’s money and credit data suggest that the effect of tighter monetary policy has eased slightly. But the data are still very weak and we think that rate cuts later in the year will lead to only a gradual rebound. The narrow (M1) money supply …
28th March 2024
We think investors are underestimating the extent of rates cuts that the Riksbank will make this year. Policymakers are, rightly in our view, increasingly confident that inflation will soon return sustainably to the 2% target. Accordingly, we think they …
27th March 2024
Data released today showed that Spanish inflation picked up from 2.9% in February to 3.2% in March. We think it is likely to increase further over the coming months due to base effects in energy inflation, higher VAT rates on energy and foods, and …
The SNB under Chairman Thomas Jordan has never shied away from making big calls, so it was fitting that it surprised markets with a 25bp rate cut today, to 1.5%, only three weeks after Mr Jordan announced he would leave his post in September. We expect …
21st March 2024
We think the Riksbank will leave its policy rate unchanged at 4.0% next week but cut it by 25bp at the following meeting, in May. Beyond that, our forecast is for rates to come down much faster than the Riksbank’s own forecasts imply but broadly in line …
20th March 2024
Inflation in Switzerland has surprised most other forecasters, including the SNB, this year by falling to just 1.2% in February, which was the ninth month in a row that it has been below 2%. We think this will encourage the SNB to reduce the policy rate …
14th March 2024
Inflation in Norway has fallen more quickly than Norges Bank expected, so at next week’s meeting it is likely to signal that it will cut interest rates sooner than it previously expected, perhaps in Q3. And we think there’s a good chance that it will make …
The ECB’s new operational framework for implementing monetary policy, announced this afternoon, was largely in line with our expectations and has no immediate implications for monetary policy. But it does mean that the Bank will maintain a portfolio of …
13th March 2024
Today’s ECB decision was in line with expectations and President Lagarde’s comments in the press conference reinforce our view that June is the earliest date by which the Bank will start to cut rates. There were no major surprises in today’s ECB policy …
7th March 2024
The disinflation story is largely over in Switzerland, and rising rent inflation may actually cause headline inflation to increase in the summer. However, this will not stop the SNB from cutting its policy rate on the 21 st March by 25bp to 1.5%. …
28th February 2024
Monthly industrial production data have been overstating the decline in German industry. Nonetheless, the more accurate gross value added measure still shows that activity has been falling. German industrial production has been on a clear downward trend …
27th February 2024
January’s money and credit data are consistent with our view that the improvement in the data towards the end of last year was not the beginning of strong recovery. After falling sharply throughout most of last year, the money and credit data improved a …
The stalling in services disinflation in recent months is largely due to technical factors and one-offs. If services prices continue to increase at their recent pace in month-on-month terms, the year-on-year rate will fall a little further in the coming …
22nd February 2024
Carbon price not out of the woods yet …
Euro-zone construction output picked up in December, but remained well below last year’s peak. We expect it to drop again in 2024, in part due to a continued dismal performance by the sector in Germany. Data released today showed that euro-zone …
20th February 2024
Data published today show that negotiated wage growth in the euro-zone remained strong at the end of last year. But these data won’t stop the ECB from cutting interest rates in April – as we are forecasting – as long as other indicators continue to point …
Chairman Thomas Jordan’s recent comments about the franc raise questions over whether the SNB might use FX interventions to loosen monetary conditions. But we think policymakers will use the policy rate as the main tool to achieve price stability, and …
13th February 2024
The Riksbank signalled unequivocally in today’s policy statement that interest rates may be cut sooner than they previously anticipated. While a March rate cut is possible, particularly if the January and February inflation data come in below …
1st February 2024
January’s European Commission business and consumer survey, released this morning, supports our view that the euro-zone economy will stagnate in Q1. But recent increases in services firms’ price expectations could prompt policymakers to wait a little …
30th January 2024
Data released this morning suggest that the collapse in the euro-zone’s money supply might be over. But we expect money and lending growth to remain fairly weak. Since the ECB started raising interest rates, the narrow (M1) money supply has plummeted as …
26th January 2024
The Riksbank is set to leave its key policy rate unchanged next week but we think it will begin to cut rates in the second quarter and reduce them faster than policymakers are forecasting. As a reminder, the Riksbank left its policy rate at 4.0% at its …
25th January 2024
The ECB kept interest rates unchanged and stuck to the argument that a first rate cut is most likely in the summer. An earlier move is still possible if the inflation data are weak in the next few months, but the risks are shifting towards rates staying …
Norges Bank today reiterated that it will leave its policy rate at 4.5% “for some time”. But we think that inflation will fall rapidly this year, so when the Bank does start to cut rates, it will do so more quickly than its forecasts suggest. The decision …
We think Norges Bank will keep its policy rate unchanged at 4.50% next week but, given the weakness in the krone and tight labour market, retain a hawkish bias in its guidance. Further ahead, we think rates will be cut sooner than the Bank expects as …
18th January 2024
The latest euro-zone inflation data, published this morning, will dampen policymakers’ concerns about the strength of domestic price pressures. But with underlying inflation still too high for comfort, this won’t be enough for the Bank to change its …
17th January 2024
Some ECB Governing Council Members have called for an increase in reserves requirements, primarily in order to reduce the Eurosystem’s interest expenditure. If implemented – which we think is likely – this would have the effect of tightening monetary …
10th January 2024
Industrial output in Germany is likely to follow November’s decline with further falls this year. While the recent fall in natural gas prices could help to stem the bleeding in the near term, energy costs are still high. And weak demand will compound …
9th January 2024
Data released this morning showed that bank lending in the euro-zone picked up towards the end of last year. But we doubt that this is the start of a sustained turnaround. We expect the impact of tight monetary policy to weigh on lending and keep the …
2nd January 2024
The end of Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa’s time in office does not signify the end of Portugal’s impressive period of debt reduction. We think any future government is likely to exercise similar fiscal discipline while benefitting from …
20th December 2023
Last week, Christine Lagarde cited high wage growth and “domestic inflation” as reasons for the ECB to keep interest rates high. While domestic price pressures are easing, it will take several months for policymakers to see enough evidence that they have …
19th December 2023
The ECB left interest rates on hold today and pushed back against expectations that it will start cutting rates as soon as March next year. However, we think inflation and GDP growth will be lower than the ECB forecasts next year and anticipate five 25bp …
14th December 2023
Today’s decision by Norges Bank to hike its policy rate by 25bp to 4.50% marks the end of its tightening cycle. Looking ahead, we have pencilled in a faster pace of rate cuts next year than policymakers currently anticipate as we expect a weak economy and …
Today’s SNB decision and statement were largely in line with expectations as the policy rate was held at 1.75% and policymakers removed any mention of FX sales. We think the latter decision signals that loosening is imminent and will probably first …
SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan recently reiterated the Bank’s line that “we will not hesitate to tighten monetary policy further if necessary” but the actual question is whether policymakers will hesitate to cut rates. We think the answer is yes and that they …
7th December 2023
Despite the recent paring back of interest rate expectations across Europe, we think Norges Bank is likely to go ahead with one final 25bp hike next week – taking the policy rate to a peak of 4.50% – though it will signal that its tightening cycle is …
Our view about relative economic and interest rate prospects in Sweden and the euro-zone suggests that the Swedish krona’s recent rebound may prove durable. In fact, given how far below “fair value” it appears to us, we think that the krona will rise …
4th December 2023
While there have been growing concerns about public finances in some euro-zone countries recently, prospects for Greece’s debt are quite bright. Steady economic growth, large primary surpluses and low interest expenditure should keep the debt ratio on a …
In this Global Economics Update , we describe eight of the biggest risks to our economic forecasts for 2024. The unusual nature of this cycle and uncertainties surrounding the transmission of monetary policy mean that the biggest risks relate to central …
30th November 2023
Despite the Riksbank Executive Board insisting that it might raise interest rates again in the coming months, we would be very surprised if it does so. Instead, we think the next move will be a rate cut next May, and expect the Bank to then cut rates …
23rd November 2023
We continue to forecast a small fall in euro-zone yield spreads over Bunds in the next year or so. However, rising risks to the upside in recent months and differences in fiscal positions between countries may mean that the relative picture for some …
22nd November 2023
The EU’s criticism of French fiscal policy is not in itself a major concern. But France’s debt-to-GDP ratio may well rise over time rather than declining as the government intends. The key problem is a very large primary deficit which the government plans …
21st November 2023
Recent developments will have given policymakers at Norges Bank food for thought ahead of December’s interest rate decision. While we had initially rejected the central bank’s guidance that it would hike once more, we now think three key upside risks have …
16th November 2023
While the world’s major central banks now appear to have ended their tightening cycles, we think the Riksbank will raise its policy rate by 25bp again next week, to 4.25%, because of the strength of domestic inflation and weakness of the krona. And we now …
