Global Commercial Property Update Despite short-term challenges, leisure set to bounce back With consumers cutting back discretionary spending as real incomes come under pressure, demand for leisure assets will be subdued over the next year or so. But longer term the future for the sector... 29th May 2026 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update How big is the fiscal cost of the Iran conflict? Since the outbreak of the Iran war we have increased our forecast for the aggregate euro-zone fiscal deficit this year from around 3% to 3.5% of GDP. Increased borrowing is not a major worry for... 29th May 2026 · 5 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Europe gradually getting tougher on China Today’s gathering of European Commissioners will prepare the ground for a further tightening of European trade defences against China. However, differences of opinion between European governments and... 29th May 2026 · 6 mins read
Europe Rapid Response Euro-zone national inflation data (May 2026) The national HICP data for May suggest that euro-zone headline inflation edged up from 3.0% in April to 3.1%. If oil and natural gas prices remain around current levels or fall back, energy inflation... 29th May 2026 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Italy growing slowly but jobs market will remain tight Italy’s unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since the mid-1970s, but recent declines have been driven by young people leaving the labour force rather than rising employment. Even if the... 28th May 2026 · 2 mins read
Europe Commercial Property Valuation Monitor Europe Commercial Property Valuation Monitor (Q2 2026) Commercial property valuations worsened in Q1 as the Iran war pushed alternative asset yields higher. Looking ahead, valuations could worsen further and property yields could come under upward... 28th May 2026 · 0 mins read
Europe Rapid Response Euro-zone EC Survey (May) Although the EC Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose slightly in May and selling price expectations fell back a touch, the big picture is unchanged: the euro-zone has suffered a significant... 28th May 2026 · 2 mins read
Event Europe Drop-In: Energy prices, inflation and the ECB 9th June 2026, 3:00PM BST A rate hike is priced in for its June meeting, but how will the ECB balance the growth-inflation trade-off into the second half of 2026?
Commodities Weekly “Waiving” goodbye to Russian sanctions? The US sanctions waiver permitting purchases of Russian oil has helped, at the margin, cushion the impact of lost supply from the Middle East so far. Looking ahead, given that European natural gas... 22nd May 2026 · 4 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Economic growth may stall in Q2 The downbeat set of business surveys for May which were published this week have prompted us to shave our forecast for quarterly GDP growth to zero in Q2. Further ahead, an outright recession is... 22nd May 2026 · 6 mins read
Europe Rapid Response Euro-zone Consumer Confidence (May 2026) The drop in consumer confidence since the Iran war began, together with the weakness in the business surveys, suggests that the euro-zone economy might contract in Q2. 21st May 2026 · 2 mins read
Europe Commercial Property Update Consensus agrees prime office rents to be resilient amid Iran war Upgrades to expectations for euro-zone prime office rental growth this year and next have moved the consensus forecast closer to our own and are consistent with our view that prime office rents will... 20th May 2026 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Inflationary effects of Iran war are set to broaden Higher energy costs have pushed up fuel prices in the euro-zone while the impact on other components of the consumer price basket has so far been very small. But the inflationary effects of the Iran... 20th May 2026 · 3 mins read
Commodities Update Seasonal dynamics to support natural gas prices in H2 The fact that Asian buyers of LNG from the Middle East have so far curtailed demand has helped to limit the upward pressure on natural gas prices. But even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, a... 19th May 2026 · 4 mins read
Europe Economics Update US tariffs have hit euro-zone exports The front-running of US tariffs gave a small boost to euro-zone exports and GDP last year. But now that the dust is settling, euro-zone exports to the US are significantly lower than they were before... 19th May 2026 · 4 mins read
