Europe Chart Pack LTRO euphoria starting to fade Recent news on the euro-zone economy has dampened hopes that that the ECB’s longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) in December and February had largely solved the euro-zone’s economic and fiscal... 3rd April 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update As good as it gets for German retail rents? February’s fall in German retail sales volumes served as a timely reminder that the strong recovery in retail rents in the euro-zone’s largest economy cannot be taken for granted. Nevertheless, while... 2nd April 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Unemployment (Feb.) February’s rise in euro-zone unemployment confirmed that the resilience of the German labour market is doing little to drag up the average. With high inflation and fiscal tightening adding to the... 2nd April 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Bigger firewall is a small step forward The reported plans to increase the size of the euro-zone bail-out fund - hopefully to be agreed at today’s (Friday’s) Eurogroup meeting - provide some encouragement that the policymakers have... 2nd April 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash CPI & German Retail Sales (Mar./Feb.) March’s euro-zone CPI inflation data confirmed that stubbornly high inflation is adding to the squeeze on households’ purchasing power from rising unemployment and fiscal tightening. 30th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone Fiscal Monitor (Mar.) Recent news from Spain suggests that the Government may be falling further behind its fiscal targets, but the other troubled euro-zone governments have made a better start to the year. 29th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone EC Survey (Mar.) March’s EC business and consumer survey echoed other indicators in suggesting that what “recovery” there was in the euro-zone economy has already ground to a halt. 29th March 2012 · 1 min read
ECB Watch Close to the limit? Following the apparent success of the ECB’s recent LTROs, the Governing Council meeting on April 4th is unlikely to produce any further significant policy measures. While acknowledging the ECB’s duty... 28th March 2012 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Credit crunch has passed in US but not in the euro-zone Credit growth and lending conditions are improving gradually in the US but are still extremely weak in the euro-zone. This divergence looks likely to continue or widen in the coming months... 28th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone Monetary Indicators Monitor (Mar.) The latest monetary data have confirmed that the ECB’s generous lending is boosting the broad money supply and perhaps even stimulating government bond purchases. But, for now at least, lending to... 28th March 2012 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Focus Lessons from the Icelandic crisis Three years after entering a depression, Iceland has staged an impressive turnaround, which, on the face of it, bodes well for the peripheral euro-zone economies that have suffered from similar... 27th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Lessons from the Icelandic crisis Three years after entering a depression, Iceland has staged an impressive turnaround, which, on the face of it, bodes well for the peripheral euro-zone economies that have suffered from similar... 27th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Mar.) March’s rise in the German Ifo Business Climate Indicator suggested that the economy remains resilient. But the increase was the smallest for some time and other business surveys paint a less upbeat... 26th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly LTRO sparkle starting to fade Last week brought the strongest signs yet that the post-LTRO bout of optimism is starting to wear off. Hopes that the ECB’s operations would drive a pick-up in the euro-zone economy were dealt a blow... 26th March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Are things starting to look up for the Copenhagen retail market? Recent macroeconomic indicators from Denmark might raise hopes that the outlook for Copenhagen retail rental values has improved significantly. But with the impact of past falls in household spending... 22nd March 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Ireland GDP (Q4) The Irish GDP figures for Q4 revealed that the euro-zone’s fastest growing economy in the first half of 2011 fell back into recession in the second half. Ireland still remains in a better position... 22nd March 2012 · 1 min read
