Europe Commercial Property Focus Expect no change in euro-zone office yields until 2022 The slowdown in euro-zone growth means that rental growth will be weaker and that bond yields are likely to be lower. The net effect of these factors is a downward revision to our forecasts for office... 22nd February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (Feb.) February’s Composite PMI provides some reassurance that the euro-zone economy as a whole is still growing. But industrial output is falling, and with the global economy slowing and trade tensions... 21st February 2019 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update BTPs to underperform other peripheral bonds We think that safe-haven flows will keep government bond yields across the euro-zone’s “core” low this year. And, we wouldn’t be surprised if yields in Germany even turned negative as they did in 2016... 21st February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly China and Germany, another Spanish election With Germany having narrowly avoided recession and Italy’s downturn dragging on, policymakers at the ECB will soon have to provide more clarity about which tools they are willing to use if the... 15th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Chart Pack Tick-up in capital value growth to be short-lived Euro-zone property investment rose by 9% y/y last year to reach a new high of €183bn. But not all markets shared in the spoils, with Italy posting a 20% decline. At the all-property level, yields... 15th February 2019 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Euro-zone/US divergence to narrow as US slows The recent contrast between a weakening euro-zone and resilient US seems to reflect the former’s higher exposure to world trade and the relative weakness of real disposable incomes growth there. We... 14th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Leading indicators not (yet) pointing to recession Recent movements in most of the indicators which signalled the only two recessions in the euro-zone’s history suggest that the economic outlook has deteriorated sharply. They do not yet point... 14th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone GDP (Q4) With Germany avoiding recession only by the skin of its teeth, and Italy actually in recession, the euro-zone eked out GDP growth of only 0.2% in Q4. For now we still expect growth to recover a bit... 14th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Industrial Production (Dec.) December’s 0.9% fall in industrial production confirms that there was a broad-based slowdown in the euro-zone at the end of last year, which was not due to problems in just one or two sectors or... 13th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus How will the ECB respond to a recession? The next euro-zone recession is likely to begin before the ECB has raised interest rates from the “zero lower bound”. When it happens, we think the Bank will resume its asset purchase programme – but... 11th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly EC slashes forecasts, German recession still possible The publication of macroeconomic forecasts by the European Commission is not normally a market-moving event. But the extent of the downward revisions to its GDP forecasts seemed to take the financial... 8th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Will industrial property weather the slowdown? A weaker outlook for the euro-zone economy reinforces our view that industrial rental growth will slow this year and next. With policy rates on hold, we don’t expect upward pressure on industrial... 8th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update German stimulus no game changer for euro-zone With the euro-zone economy slowing and the ECB short of ammunition, there will be growing calls for a big fiscal stimulus from Germany. However, we suspect that the German government will fall short... 7th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Chart Pack Recession risks rising Economic activity finished last year on a weak note and most business surveys suggest that things did not improve in January. Italy went back into recession in the second half of 2018 and the evidence... 6th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Retail Sales (Dec.) & Final PMIs (Jan.) Retail sales figures for December were no worse than expected, and upward revisions to the data for October and November show that sales actually rose by 0.6% in Q4 as a whole. However, the final PMIs... 5th February 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash CPI (Jan.) & Mfg PMIs (Jan.) The increase in underlying inflation in the euro-zone in January is a rare piece of good news for the ECB. However, core inflation remains a long way below the ECB’s near-2% target and, given the... 1st February 2019 · 1 min read