US Economics Weekly Outlook improving for both retailers and industry The second half of the year is likely to be much better than the first for both retailers and manufacturers. Faster income growth should help households shrug off the lingering effects of January’s... 22nd July 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Update No systemic risk from Detroit bankruptcy The filing for bankruptcy by the City of Detroit last night does not pose a systemic risk to America’s financial system. The amount of debt that Detroit is likely to default on is small compared with... 19th July 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Consumer Price Index (Jun.) The modest increase in the official core inflation figure in June, to 1.3% from 1.1% in the month before, was mainly due to specific base-year effects. We expect underlying inflation to stay at the... 19th July 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Bank of Canada softens tightening bias Although the Bank of Canada held its view that the economy will soon accelerate and that interest rates will eventually rise, several dovish tweaks to its policy statement suggest even more strongly... 17th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Bernanke reiterates the party line Even though Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke just repeated the party line in a slightly different way in his semi-annual testimony to Congress today, the message that the tapering of QE3 is not set in stone... 17th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Housing Starts (Jun.) Housing starts extended their recent rollercoaster ride in June, falling by 9.9% m/m. This reflects a characteristically volatile multi-family sector rather than renewed weakness, and we expect... 17th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Jun.) Broad money growth has stabilised at a healthy rate, but the further slowdown in the growth rate of bank lending is disconcerting. 16th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Data Response Consumer Prices & Industrial Production (Jun.) June’s consumer prices and industrial production releases had something for everyone at the Fed but, on balance, they leave the central bank on course to slow the pace of its asset purchases at the... 16th July 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Survey of Manufacturing (May) The 0.7% m/m rise in manufacturing sales volumes suggests that GDP growth in May might have been higher than 0.1% m/m. As a result, the risks to our forecast that second-quarter GDP will rise by 1.5%... 16th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Data Response Retail Sales (Jun.) Sales losing a bit of momentum The disappointing rise in retail sales values in June increases the chances that GDP grew at an annualised rate of less than 1% in the second quarter. Even more worrying is that sales growth appears... 15th July 2013 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Recent fall in gas prices due to a lot of hot air The recent swings in the price of natural gas in the US have mainly been caused by the unusually cold spring. The bigger picture is that higher demand from utilities and manufacturers and lower... 15th July 2013 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Canada should weather China's slowdown Canada should weather China's economic slowdown relatively well, with fairly minor consequences for economic growth. Since China represents a fairly small share of Canada's total exports, any slowdown... 15th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly QE3 tapering in September still a good bet We don’t think the balanced discussion that took place at the FOMC meeting in mid-June means that the Fed is less likely to slow the pace of its monthly asset purchases sooner rather than later. In... 15th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Data Response Uni. of Mich. Consumer Confidence (Jul.) The trivial drop in the University of Michigan measure of consumer confidence to 83.9 in July, from 84.1, was probably in reaction to the recent sharp decline in stock markets. But since equity prices... 12th July 2013 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Bernanke bashing illustrates limits of “forward guidance” Many of the criticisms of the US Fed’s recent communications on monetary policy are, in our view, unfair. However, the difficulty that the media and markets have found in drawing clear conclusions... 12th July 2013 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Easing cost pressures a further boost to homebuilders The 25% fall in lumber prices in the past two months is helping to relieve cost pressures on homebuilders. Combined with surging homebuilder confidence, it looks like housing starts are set to rise... 11th July 2013 · 1 min read
