Europe Commercial Property Should investors be worried by the ECB’s apparent taper? The ECB’s recent announcement of a slower rate of asset purchases is not a sign that the normalisation in euro-zone monetary policy has moved closer. We therefore expect Bund yields to be still close... 16th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (Dec.) December’s unchanged euro-zone Composite PMI implies that GDP growth picked up slightly in the fourth quarter. But the weakness of some of the hard data at the start of Q4 suggests that an... 15th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Industrial Production (Oct.) October’s fall in euro-zone industrial production contrasts with the brighter picture painted by the business surveys. While industrial growth might pick-up slightly in the near term, it is unlikely... 14th December 2016 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Central Bank Watch Keeping up the fight against a strong franc The Swiss National Bank will stress after its meeting on 15th December that it is prepared to act decisively to prevent any significant appreciation of the Swiss franc in the coming months. Indeed... 13th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German ZEW Survey (Dec.) December’s ZEW survey suggested that investors were not too concerned about the effects of euro-zone political uncertainty on the German economy, although the index still points to a slowdown in GDP... 13th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Has Italy’s new PM been handed a poisoned chalice? Italy’s new Prime Minister has two major challenges ahead of him – reforming the electoral system and managing the banking crisis – both of which could spell disaster for his party at the next... 12th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly No end in sight for ECB monetary support While the ECB opted to extend its Asset Purchase Programme (APP) at a slower monthly pace than anticipated, there is no immediate end in sight in terms of its duration. Indeed, we think that the ECB... 9th December 2016 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Central Bank Watch Norges Bank to hint at 2017 rate cut The Norges Bank is almost certain to leave monetary policy unchanged at its meeting on 15th December. Indeed, in October, the Bank repeated its message that “the key policy rate would most likely... 9th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Signs point towards higher German industrial rents Tight supply and a positive demand outlook point towards a rise in prime German industrial rents. Indeed, we think rental growth prospects are relatively strong compared to the last ten years. 9th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response French Industrial Production & German Trade (Oct.) October’s French industrial production and German trade data, combined with soft data released earlier in the week, suggest that the euro-zone’s largest economies made a slower start to the fourth... 9th December 2016 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Central Bank Watch Central Bank of Iceland to keep rates unchanged Little has changed since the Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) last met and so, like last month, policy will be unchanged next week. As political and exchange rate uncertainty fades next year, concerns... 8th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Dovish Draghi signals prolonged ECB market presence While the ECB announced today that it would slow the pace of its asset purchases from next April, it also committed to buying for longer than anticipated. What’s more, it expressed a clear bias... 8th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Chart Pack Economy weathering political risks The euro-zone economy still seems to be weathering the effects of political upsets and uncertainty at home and abroad well. The PMI and EC survey indicators rose in November, consistent with an... 8th December 2016 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Decent economic growth but challenges lie ahead The Nordic and Swiss economies generally recorded positive growth in Q3 and look set to do so again in Q4. But with growth in their main trading partner, the euro-zone, set to slow and a number of... 7th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Bucharest industrial rents have further to rise Contrary to popular belief, we think that it has been the strength of the domestic economy, rather than firms relocating to Romania on cost grounds, which has caused prime Bucharest industrial rents... 7th December 2016 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Industrial Production & French Trade (Oct.) October’s German industrial production and French trade data suggest that the euro-zone’s largest economies made a slower start to the fourth quarter than the business surveys had implied. 7th December 2016 · 1 min read
