Europe Economics Weekly Divergent debt prospects in Italy and France The Italian and French governments’ fiscal plans, announced this week, suggest that the headline budget deficit will be similar in both countries over the next few years. But we suspect that the... 28th September 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update French 2019 Budget will support domestic demand The draft French Budget for 2019 confirmed that the Government intends to tighten underlying fiscal policy a little. But several of the planned measures should serve to stimulate private spending... 25th September 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response French GDP (Q2, 1st estimate) The 0.2% expansion in France’s GDP in Q2 was disappointing. But since temporary factors weighed on growth, we still think that euro-zone growth picked up in Q2. 27th July 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German ZEW (Jul.), French & Italian Ind. Prod. (May) The further decline in German ZEW investor sentiment seems to reflect concerns about the impact of possible protectionist measures. But May’s industrial production data for France and Italy support... 10th July 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update French consumer gloom set to lift The deterioration in French consumer morale suggests that household spending growth will remain fairly subdued in the next couple of quarters. But we doubt that this will last. The bright outlook for... 3rd July 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German & French Industrial Production (Apr.) April’s data for industrial production in Germany and France add to the evidence that the euro-zone economy is unlikely to rebound strongly after Q1’s slowdown. 8th June 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Did the euro-zone catch a cold in Q1? We think that temporary factors – including industrial action, cold weather and an outbreak of the flu – explain about 0.2 percentage points of the slowdown in quarterly euro-zone GDP growth from 0.7%... 4th May 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response French and Spanish GDP (Q4) & Flash CPI (Apr.) The first estimates of French, Spanish and Austrian GDP in Q1 suggest that quarterly growth in the euro-zone as a whole slowed from Q4’s 0.7% to around 0.4%. Meanwhile, there were no signs of rising... 27th April 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Worries about Germany are overdone Developments in Germany this week have increased concerns that the euro-zone’s growth engine is really starting to sputter. But we think that some of these concerns are overdone. After all, recent... 20th April 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Will a lack of prime CBD stock boost Paris office rents? A shortage of Grade-A stock in the Paris CBD threatens to drive a sharp lift in rental values. However, a large quantity of new supply in the wider Paris Centre-West market this year means that we are... 9th April 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Is French inflation about to take off? The strength of France’s economic recovery and improving conditions in the labour market suggest that core inflation will soon start to rise from its current depressed levels. But recent reforms will... 1st February 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics French & Spanish GDP (Q4) The French economy’s healthy expansion in Q4 rounded off a strong year, while surveys point to an acceleration in growth ahead. Meanwhile, tensions in Catalonia had little impact on Spanish growth. 30th January 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Is the ECB’s confidence in the inflation outlook warranted? While ECB President Mario Draghi sounded positive on the outlook for inflation at this week’s press conference, he did so with a justified degree of caution. After all, there is still economic slack... 26th January 2018 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (Dec.) The rise in the euro-zone Composite PMI capped off a strong year and puts the economy on a very firm footing for the start of 2018. But with the survey’s price indices edging down in December, the ECB... 14th December 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Should we be more bullish on French industrial? Solid economic growth, structural changes, as well as tightening availability and limited land for development will support particularly robust rental growth in Paris in the next few years, where we... 8th December 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response French Industrial Production & German Trade (Oct.) The unexpected jump in French industrial production in October was fairly broad-based and shows that the sector made a very healthy start to Q4. Meanwhile, German trade data for the same month were... 8th December 2017 · 1 min read
