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The recent sharp rise in public and market-based measures of inflation expectations has worried the Bank of England. Inflation expectations will probably rise further as actual inflation continues to climb. And if they rise by more than the increase in …
5th October 2021
The impact on the labour market of the end of the furlough scheme could ultimately determine whether an interest rate hike comes in the next few months, or not until mid-2022. Our view remains that its expiry will help to ease the existing shortages and …
30th September 2021
The double whammy of higher utility prices and the government’s new “health and social care levy” will reduce real household disposable incomes over the next year or so by £16.5bn, or 0.6% of GDP, compared to otherwise. By slowing real consumption growth, …
28th September 2021
While rates were left at +0.10% in an 9-0 vote and the Bank of England’s target stock of purchased assets at £895bn, today’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) policy statement suggests that the Bank is moving closer to raising interest rates. As such, we …
23rd September 2021
Given the recent surge in wholesale gas and electricity prices to record highs, it looks likely that Ofgem will opt for another chunky hike to the price cap on households’ utility bills next April. While this will hit household real incomes, it doesn’t …
17th September 2021
A deeper dive into the CPI figures supports our initial analysis that the bulk of the jump in inflation from 2.0% in July to 3.2% in August is due to base effects linked to falling consumer prices in August last year rather than a widespread and …
15th September 2021
The net effect of today’s announcements on social care reform may provide a very small boost to GDP. But perhaps more important is that by funding more spending on social care by raising taxes, the government has some room to increase spending further, …
7th September 2021
Reports that shortages of heavy good vehicles (HGV) drivers have become more acute and have raised drivers’ pay will do little to ease fears that higher wage growth could persistently lift CPI inflation next year. But unless labour shortages spread to …
3rd September 2021
The inflation expectations of households, businesses and the financial markets will probably rise in the coming months as actual CPI inflation jumps to over 4.0% later this year. But as the rises are most likely to be confined to measures that capture …
25th August 2021
The Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) policy statement sent a clear signal that higher interest rates are on the horizon. But there were few signs that it is preparing to hike rates soon. What’s more, we continue to envisage inflation dropping back more …
5th August 2021
A bumper rise in utilities prices in October could contribute to CPI inflation climbing to a 10-year high of 4.4% in November. But as we don’t expect higher CPI inflation to feed through into higher inflation expectations or faster underlying pay growth, …
3rd August 2021
Bigger rises in commodity and component costs than we had expected mean that we now think CPI inflation will rise from 2.1% in May to a peak of about 4.0% around the turn of the year. But we still think this will be a short, sharp spike in inflation that …
6th July 2021
The recent softening in some indicators of activity is probably mostly a result of shifts in spending patterns within the economy rather than a sign that the recovery has already stalled. As such, we still expect monthly GDP to rise back to its …
29th June 2021
Other than the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) noting the growing upside risks to inflation alongside today’s policy decision, there were no real signs that it is thinking about tightening policy sooner, à la the Fed. We think policy will be tightened …
24th June 2021
A four-week delay to the easing of the final domestic COVID-19 restrictions beyond 21 st June is unlikely to prevent the economy from climbing back to its pre-pandemic size by the autumn. And although there is a clear risk that “Freedom Day” will be …
14th June 2021
We suspect that a bout of inflation triggered by the economy reopening will be brief and that a more widespread and sustained rise in inflation that would concern the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) won’t happen until late in 2023. The pandemic has been …
11th May 2021
Supply issues have raised price pressures for producers, which they have begun to pass on. But with doubts around the reliability of survey evidence and the limited pass-through to consumer prices, the surge in pipeline price pressures is, for now, an …
10th May 2021
While voting today to leave interest rates at +0.10% and the stock of Quantitative Easing (QE) at £895bn, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) suggested conditions for tighter policy may be in place in late 2022. But our forecast for subdued inflation over …
6th May 2021
There will be a surge in business insolvencies once the government’s moratoriums expire at the end of June and September. But a strong economic recovery should ensure that fewer businesses go bust than after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and fewer …
5th May 2021
When taken together, the Bank of England’s forward guidance and its economic forecasts imply that the Bank may not raise interest rates until late in 2023 at the earliest. That would be later than the current pricing in the financial markets of towards …
27th April 2021
Our expectation that the Bank of England will end quantitative easing (QE) sooner than the US Fed and the ECB is unlikely to mean that UK government bond yields rise much further than elsewhere or that the pound is materially stronger. The UK’s success in …
26th April 2021
The early evidence supports our view that the reopening of non-essential retailers and outdoor drinking/dining venues last Monday marked the start of a rapid rebound in economic activity. The normal time lags mean we won’t have a clear picture of how the …
19th April 2021
We’ve assumed households just go back to saving the same share of their income as they did before the crisis. That is enough to drive a rapid economic recovery. The upside risk is if households go further and spend some of their stock of savings. Indeed, …
31st March 2021
Our forecast that the Bank of England will keep interest rates at +0.10% for a few more years and that, as a result, inflation will rise above the 2% target for a prolonged period is consistent with a further steepening in the gilt yield curve. As a …
23rd March 2021
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) did not follow in the ECB’s footsteps by stepping up the pace of its QE purchases. Instead, it echoed the message of the Fed by emphasising that rate hikes are still a long way away. This suggests that rates won’t rise …
18th March 2021
Extensions to many emergency support measures in the Budget, combined with the lockdown easing roadmap, leaves us with a clearer steer on the impact of the eventual withdrawal of government support. As the economy follows the route out of lockdown, it …
16th March 2021
Brexit was not the only reason why exports and imports in January were so weak. COVID-19 and statistical breaks are also to blame. And it appears that a good chunk of these effects faded in February. The 18.3% m/m and 22.8% m/m respective falls in exports …
12th March 2021
In last week’s Budget speech, the Chancellor referred to the lower “underlying” measure of government net debt rather than the higher “headline” measure. You’d be forgiven for thinking he did that just to put the spotlight on the lower measure. But the …
10th March 2021
This checklist helps clients keep track of the key economic and public finances forecasts announced during the Chancellor’s Budget speech at 12.30pm on Wednesday 3 rd March and to provide some instant context. We will send a Rapid Response and a Focus …
3rd March 2021
1st March 2021
The surge in average earnings growth to a ten-year high is not what it seems as it’s partly due to large numbers of lower-paid workers losing their jobs. As such, the upward pressure on inflation from earnings growth is much smaller than implied by the …
25th February 2021
The pound has performed better than all other G10 currencies so far in 2021 (see Chart 1), rising from $1.36 at the start of January to almost a three-year high of $1.41 now. We expect the strength of sterling against the US dollar to continue and have …
24th February 2021
We think that the government’s roadmap for easing England’s current COVID-19 lockdown will direct the economy back to its pre-pandemic size by Q1 2022. With the Chancellor and the Bank of England unlikely to knock the economy off course with tighter …
22nd February 2021
There are fears that, by making the government’s debt servicing costs more vulnerable to short-term rises in interest rates, quantitative easing (QE) is storing up trouble for when Bank Rate rises. However, right from the onset of the scheme, it was clear …
10th February 2021
Even though we don’t expect there to be much, if any, long-term economic scarring from the COVID-19 crisis, a surge in the number of businesses going insolvent, a jump in the long-term unemployment rate or a sustained sharp drop in the number of …
9th February 2021
Our forecasts that the Bank of England would not be able to use negative interest until the middle of the year and wouldn’t be willing to speed up the pace of its quantitative easing (QE) proved to be spot on today. And the more optimistic feel of the …
4th February 2021
The possible sharp fall in the population since the start of the pandemic may explain up to 1.8 percentage points of the underperformance of the UK economy last year relative to its peers and, more worryingly, may present a downside risk to our forecast …
21st January 2021
The Bank of England may not be ready to use negative interest rates until H2 2021. And by then, COVID-19 restrictions might be easing and the economy could be growing rapidly. In any case, if the Bank does loosen policy further, we suspect it will use …
7th January 2021
The third lockdown to contain COVID-19 means that the economy will start the year in recession and the recovery will be delayed again. Even so, by expecting the economy to regain its pre-crisis level in Q2 2022 and to avoid major long-term scarring, we …
5th January 2021
Today’s news that a UK-EU Brexit deal will soon be announced may not boost the financial markets by much more than it already has. But a decent economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis in the second half of next year may mean that the pound rises from …
24th December 2020
The new Tier 4 COVID-19 restrictions, which closely resemble November’s lockdown, raise the chances that the economy stagnates, if not contracts, in the first three months of 2021. If the economy is heading for a double-dip, at least the second leg down …
21st December 2020
The positive news on vaccines meant that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) didn’t feel the need to loosen policy any further at its December meeting today. And, as long as there is a Brexit deal by 31 st December 2020, we don’t think it will need to …
17th December 2020
In contrast to the consensus, we think that the economic recovery in 2021 will be quicker and fuller, the Bank of England will continue to shy away from negative interest rates, the Chancellor won’t tighten fiscal policy and if there’s a no deal Brexit, …
15th December 2020
Brexit is going to get a lot of airtime over the next few hours, days and weeks, especially once the outcome of the call between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen later this afternoon is made public. But most of the coverage about a deal or no deal …
7th December 2020