Europe Economics Weekly What to make of the ECB’s new inflation forecast The ECB revised its inflation forecast down this week, but we doubt that this has meaningfully changed the outlook for monetary policy. After all, the change was small, and largely reflected tweaks to... 9th June 2017 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Peru: monetary policy easing cycle has further to run Peru’s central bank unexpectedly left its policy interest rate unchanged at 4.00%, but the accompanying statement hinted at further easing and we think additional rate cuts are likely. We expect the... 9th June 2017 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Data Response Norwegian Consumer Prices (May) Norwegian inflation resumed its decline in May, and we think that the fall has further to run. So we still forecast one interest rate cut by the Norges Bank later this year. 9th June 2017 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Will the BoJ continue to scale back its JGB purchases? The Bank of Japan’s JGB purchases of ¥4.3 trillion in May were the lowest since it stepped up purchases in October 2014. If overseas yields rebound in coming months as we expect, we will probably see... 9th June 2017 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Central Bank Watch SNB to keep policy loose to support inflation’s rise The Swiss National Bank will once again stress after its meeting on 15th June that it remains prepared to act to prevent any significant renewed appreciation of the Swiss franc. Granted, the recent... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Central Bank Watch Icelandic rates to remain on hold for now Ahead of next week’s meeting, today’s soft GDP data are unlikely to concern the Central Bank of Iceland too much. The fact that last month’s interest rate cut has done little to stem the króna’s... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update ECB eases loosening bias, but rate hikes a distant prospect The ECB removed its reference to possible interest rate cuts today, judging that the threat of deflation has passed. But it is still far from convinced that inflation is on a sustained path towards... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
India Economics Update Inflation close to bottoming out Consumer price inflation is likely to have eased in May due in large part to another drop in food inflation, and we have nudged down our full-year inflation forecast in response to the weakness in the... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
Bank of Japan Watch Board will have to lower inflation forecasts yet again The Bank of Japan will almost certainly leave policy settings unchanged at the upcoming meeting. And with inflation set to fall short of its forecasts for the current fiscal year, there is little... 8th June 2017 · 1 min read
US Fed Watch Yellen may set out balance sheet plans as early as next week We expect the Fed will press ahead and raise interest rates for the third time in seven months at the FOMC meeting that concludes on 14th June. There is also a good chance that it announces formal... 7th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Polish rates to rise further than most expect by end-2018 The press conference that followed today’s MPC meeting in Poland highlighted that some members of the Council are becoming more hawkish. While this supports our view that the policy interest rate will... 7th June 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Chart Pack Rising orders bode well for euro-zone exports Net trade probably contributed little to euro-zone GDP growth in Q1, but the outlook for exports is encouraging. The monthly goods export and import values data show a decline in the goods trade... 7th June 2017 · 1 min read
India Economics Update RBI unmoved by weakness of GDP and inflation data The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) opted to keep policy unchanged today despite the weakness of the latest inflation and GDP data. However, the less hawkish tone of the policy statement suggests that... 7th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey’s economic recovery levelling off Turkish GDP figures due next week are likely to show that the recovery levelled off in the first quarter at around 3.5% y/y. But there are signs of a healthy rebalancing of the drivers of growth. 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA willing to ignore the weak economy Even though the economy may have contracted in the first quarter, the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates at 1.5% today and retained its optimistic view on the economic outlook. We suspect... 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Philippines and Taiwan Consumer Prices (May) The fall in Philippines inflation from 3.4% y/y in April to 3.1% y/y in May adds weight to our view that it is now past its peak. The modest decline was a touch lower than our forecast of 3.2%... 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
