US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Aug. 16) The drop in new home sales in August was smaller than expected, and comes on the back of an upwardly revised surge in sales in July. That has kept market conditions tight, which will weigh on activity... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
US Chart Pack Mixed signals surrounding strength of Q3 GDP growth A marked gap has opened up between the incoming expenditure-based data, which point to a healthy rebound in third-quarter GDP growth and the production-based business survey evidence, which has... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update What do higher coking coal prices mean for iron ore? The recent doubling of coking coal prices has been cited as good news for the price of iron ore. However, we think quite the contrary. A supply shock has underpinned the rally in coking coal prices... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Saudi Arabia Consumer Prices (Aug.) The sharp fall in Saudi inflation in August was driven by a drop in food inflation, although there were signs that the weakness of the economy is curtailing underlying price pressures. We expect... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Would President Trump start a trade war? It is impossible to be sure what Donald Trump would actually do if he became US President but ourbest guess is that he would back away from his most radical proposals on trade policy. And even if he... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update How are retailers coping with the National Living Wage? It is almost six months since the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) and the initial impact on employment and wages in the retail sector does not appear to be particularly severe. But its... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Sep.) September’s rebound in the German Ifo Business Climate Indicator (BCI) offered hope that the economy remains in good health after the more negative signs from other surveys and hard data. 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Rebound in Vienna office rents set to continue After dipping in the second half of 2015, prime office rents in Vienna rebounded over the first six months of this year. With a tight supply side and relatively good employment growth prospects, we... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update BBA Mortgage Lending (Aug.) The first snapshot of mortgage lending in August shows that the drop in buyer enquiries and agreed sales seen in the run up to June’s EU referendum and in its aftermath is still feeding through to the... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Focus The structural decline in investment The structural decline of the manufacturing sector means that the long-awaited transition from mining investment towards non-mining business investment may never happen to the extent that most people... 26th September 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Fed telegraphs a December rate hike The Fed left its policy rate unchanged at between 0.25% and 0.50% at last week's FOMC meeting, but it appears to be firmly on track for a December hike. However, the fed funds rate is likely to... 23rd September 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Brexit Watch: More evidence of support from fall in the pound This week brought another wave of robust economic data and further evidence that sterling’s slideseems to be providing a boost for manufacturers. Meanwhile, there have been further mixed signalscoming... 23rd September 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Algiers unlikely to be a game-changer For the most part, commodity prices have risen this week, boosted by some weakness in the US dollar. The Fed's decision on Wednesday to keep interest rates on hold weighed on the US currency. That... 23rd September 2016 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Housing market confidence returns Today’s data from Knight Frank is further evidence that confidence in the housing market has recovered following the referendum. This, alongside the data released so far, suggests that the effect of... 23rd September 2016 · 1 min read
