Chief Economist's Note From upbeat to apocalyptic: making sense of the AI headlines It’s become almost too easy to knock Davos in a post-pandemic, fracturing world. The World Economic Forum may not be part of the solution to the world’s problems that its marketing team would have us... 22nd January 2024
Capital Daily US and UK equities are more alike than it seems US large cap equities have vastly outperformed UK ones over the past year or so, but that is skewed by the performance of the biggest names on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, there is little... 19th January 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Is the soft landing in jeopardy? This week’s stronger-than-expected news on inflation and weaker-than expected news on activity doesn’t mean that a soft landing for the economy is no longer the most likely outcome. Instead, there’s... 19th January 2024 · 6 mins read
UK Commercial Property Update Are capital values close to bottoming out? Prices of commercial real estate equities suggest capital values will see a strong recovery in the first few months of 2024. But with no prospect of yield compression and rental growth set to slow, we... 19th January 2024 · 3 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Retail Sales (Dec. 2023) The 3.2% m/m fall in retail sales volumes in December was far worse than expected (consensus forecast -0.5% m/m, CE -1.0% m/m) and suggests that the Black Friday boost to retail sales proved short... 19th January 2024 · 3 mins read
Capital Daily Rebound in Gilt yields and sterling may not last Although Gilt yields remain elevated and sterling resilient, we expect both to fall over the course of 2024 as disinflationary pressures build in the UK. 18th January 2024 · 4 mins read
Global Inflation Watch Will the last mile be the hardest? The easiest wins in the disinflation battle are behind us now that base effects from the previous surge in energy prices have run their course. Indeed, we expect energy effects to lift inflation in... 18th January 2024 · 16 mins read
UK Economics Update Drag on economic growth from credit starting to fade The Bank of England’s Q4 Credit Conditions Survey suggests the worst of the drag on economic growth from higher interest rates is fading. That suggests an economic recovery will begin later this year. 18th January 2024 · 2 mins read
UK Housing Market Update Credit Conditions Survey (Q4 2023) The latest Credit Conditions Survey showed a rise in the availability of mortgage credit in Q4 as financial market interest rates fell, but demand for mortgages slipped as mortgage rates took time to... 18th January 2024 · 3 mins read
UK Housing Market Rapid Response RICS Residential Market Survey (Dec. 23) Market was picking up even before latest slide in mortgage rates The December RICS Housing Market survey showed sales volumes rising and buyer demand recovering even before the further sizeable drop... 17th January 2024 · 3 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Consumer Prices (Dec. 2023) The unexpected rise in CPI inflation from 3.9% in November to 4.0% in December (consensus and CE forecast 3.8%) is disappointing. But we still expect favourable base effects and a fall in utility... 17th January 2024 · 3 mins read
Capital Daily The hawks are ruling 2024 so far… but not really A hawkish mood has prevailed in markets this year, and comments from the Fed’s Waller today seemed to add fuel to that fire, at least initially. But given how aggressively rate cuts were priced in... 16th January 2024 · 4 mins read
FX Markets Update We think sterling has further to fall against the US dollar While sterling has outperformed other G10 currencies amid the dollar sell-off over the past couple of months, we expect it to reverse its gains against the greenback as short-term Gilt yields edge... 16th January 2024 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Labour Market (Nov./Dec. 2023) Another big drop in wage growth in November supports our view that domestic inflationary pressures are fading fairly fast. But the ongoing tightness of the labour market will probably mean that the... 16th January 2024 · 3 mins read
Capital Daily We expect yield curves to normalise this year Government bond yield curves in the US, Germany, and the UK seem to be once again on the path towards “normalisation”, or “disinversion”, as short-term yields are close to breaking below long-term... 15th January 2024 · 4 mins read
Event Global Drop-In: ECB, BoE, Fed meetings – Reading the tea leaves for rate cut hints 1706799600 We don’t expect the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank or Bank of England to cut rates in their first meetings of 2024, but they may drop hints about when monetary easing could start.