UK Economics Weekly Global and domestic inflation risks mount We still think that the flatlining of the economy over the past two years will dampen price pressures by enough to result in CPI inflation falling below the 2% target in April and below 1.0% later... 19th April 2024 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Is the UK heading for a US-style stalling in inflation? There are no obvious signs that the UK will follow in the US’s footsteps and that the downward trend in UK inflation will soon stall. But the risks are tilted towards inflation proving stickier and... 12th April 2024 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Upturn in money growth tallies with stronger activity Whether you’re a monetarist or not, it’s hard to ignore that the surge and plunge in the money supply preceded the surge and plunge in inflation. An imminent rebound in the money supply supports the... 5th April 2024 · 7 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Why interest rate cuts may crimp household income It’s unusual that higher interest rates have directly boosted household incomes by raising the amount of interest households have received on their savings by more than the interest they have paid on... 28th March 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly BoE preparing the ground for interest rate cuts Two key developments at this week’s Bank of England policy meeting implied the Bank is shifting closer to cutting interest rates. And more striking were the comments by the Bank Governor in an... 22nd March 2024 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Weak productivity may keep domestic inflation sticky If the UK's recent dismal productivity performance continues, the Bank of England may need to wait for wage growth to fall further before it feels comfortable cutting interest rates. With the latest... 15th March 2024 · 8 mins read
UK Economics Weekly BoE’s inflation forecast looks like an outlier The Office for Budget Responsibility’s big downward revision to its CPI inflation forecast in this week’s Budget brings it more into line with our forecast for inflation to fall below the 2.0% target... 8th March 2024 · 9 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Housing leading the economy out of recession The government’s desperation to close the gap on Labour in the opinion polls means surprisingly big tax cuts shouldn’t be ruled out from the Budget on Wednesday despite the fiscal constraints that... 1st March 2024 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Tax cuts now imply tax rises after the election Whatever the Chancellor gives away in tax cuts in the Budget, the next government will have to take away in the form of tax hikes after the election. This means any fiscal sugar rush for the economy... 23rd February 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Soft landing intact as mild recession nearing an end It’s debatable whether the small falls in GDP should be considered a recession, although the decline in GDP per capita has been larger. Either way, timely indicators suggest the economy may be coming... 16th February 2024 · 6 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Bad news coming, but better times ahead We’d recommend ignoring any reports on the back of next week’s data releases that the UK economy is heading in the wrong direction on inflation and activity. It may only be a few months before... 9th February 2024 · 11 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Fiscal splurge won’t prevent summer interest rate cut The IMF was not wrong when it pointed out this week that by offering pre-election tax cuts, the Chancellor is turning a blind eye to the precarious state of the fiscal position. To meet his fiscal... 2nd February 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Deflation risks may be on the horizon Big falls in the Ofgem utility price cap in April and July could mean that CPI inflation falls from 4.0% in December 2023 to just 0.3% by September. If the chances of inflation hovering only a bit... 26th 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 Economics Weekly UK to win the race to get inflation below 2% Even though the next two CPI inflation releases may fuel the narrative that the downward trend in inflation is stalling, we think that inflation in the UK will fall below the 2.0% target in April... 12th January 2024 · 7 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Are we too downbeat on the economy in 2024? The economic news over the past week has highlighted three upsides to our forecast that the economy will stagnate in 2024. First, the fall in some mortgage rates to below 4% means the effect of future... 5th January 2024 · 7 mins read