Europe Economics Update Debt concerns still dominating the Riksbank’s thoughts The Swedish Riksbank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 1.0% was no surprise given the recent run of encouraging economic data. But while the chances of an imminent cut have perhaps... 17th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Latest Portuguese fiscal plans only buy time The Portuguese Government’s proposed new spending cuts should allow it to receive the next tranche of its bail-out loan and have its previous loans extended. But while this would provide some much... 16th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German ZEW Survey (Apr.) & Euro-zone Final CPI (Mar.) April’s fall in the German ZEW index highlighted investors’ fears that the German recovery will falter amid continued concerns about the euro-zone’s periphery. 16th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Pressure on Slovenia to intensify further Recent events have underlined our view that the Slovenian government will struggle to finance itself this year despite the small size (relative to GDP) of its troubled banks and public debt. To avoid... 15th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly The BoJ can’t do the ECB’s job for it The drop in peripheral euro-zone bond yields following the Bank of Japan’s announcement that it is set to expand its quantitative easing programme dramatically has further relieved the near-term... 15th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Industrial Production (Feb.) The small rise in euro-zone industrial production in February suggests that the sector will avoid another steep fall in output in Q1. But there is still no sign that the sector is about to spearhead... 12th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Cyprus: The bail-out thickens The dramatic increase in the size of the proposed rescue package for Cyprus both underlines the depth of the problems facing the country and poses further questions over the likely impact of future... 11th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook The crisis continues Recent events in Italy, Cyprus and Portugal have put a dent in hopes that the three-year crisis in the euro-zone is finally drawing to a close. Meanwhile, previous tentative signs that the broader... 10th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Are Greek economic prospects really improving? Recent news from Greece has provided tentative signs that the economic situation there is improving. But we still think that the economy will remain in recession for longer than the Troika expects and... 10th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update How will FX rates influence Nordic and Swiss property values? The currency driven boost to total returns in euro terms in Nordic and Swiss property markets seen over the past three years might have a little further to go. At some point, though, we would expect... 9th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Industrial Production (Feb. 13) February’s German industrial production figures suggest that the economy’s engine of growth is still just about ticking over, but only very slowly. 8th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Is the ECB about to unveil another bazooka? Despite ECB President Mario Draghi’s assurance last week that the Bank “stands ready to act”, he gave very little indication of what support it might offer. An imminent interest rate cut is possible... 8th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update When will euro-zone logistics rental values find a floor? The combination of Q4’s 0.6%q/q fall in euro-zone GDP and the weakness of the latest activity data suggest that, in the short term, falls in region-wide logistics rents are more likely to accelerate... 5th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update ECB "ready to act", but running out of options After leaving interest rates on hold today, ECB President Draghi acknowledged the downturn in the economic outlook and stated that the Bank stood ready to act in future. However, he provided little... 4th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update How big a threat is a Slovenia bail-out? Slovenia is indeed different from Cyprus, as its government has been at pains to point out, but the country may nonetheless struggle to overcome its banking crisis without outside help. That said, any... 4th April 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update French commercial property outlook darkens The latest survey evidence suggests that the French recession deepened in the first quarter. For now, while low economic sentiment seems to be dampening growth in French real estate equity prices... 4th April 2013 · 1 min read
