Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Norwegian interest rates may be on hold until 2016 Although the Norges Bank left its monetary policy stance unchanged today, the Bank may yet need to push back its first projected interest rate hike from mid-2015 to 2016. 27th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Danish central bank unlikely to tolerate further krone falls The fall in the Danish krone to its weakest level against the euro since early 2006 has increased speculation that Denmark’s central bank will have to respond to maintain the krone’s peg. We agree... 24th March 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Danish central bank unlikely to tolerate further krone falls The fall in the Danish krone to its weakest level against the euro since early 2006 has increased speculation that Denmark’s central bank will have to respond to maintain the krone’s peg. We agree... 24th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Belgian recovery unlikely to gather much more pace Although Belgium’s economy has returned to growth, the Government has made little progress in tackling the country’s underlying labour market problems. As a result, we doubt that the Belgian recovery... 20th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update SNB's battle with deflation goes on The combination of a sluggish economic recovery, very low inflation and a still strong currency will keep the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in very accommodative mode for the foreseeable future. 20th March 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update SNB’s battle with deflation goes on The combination of a sluggish economic recovery, very low inflation and a still strong currency will keep the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in very accommodative mode for the foreseeable future. 20th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Veneto vote highlights Italy and EU policy challenges While the continuing independence vote in Italy’s Veneto region may prove of little direct importance, the poll highlights the breadth of challenges facing Mr Renzi’s new Government and the difficulty... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Sedlabanki softens its stance but rates are still likely to rise In light of the recent drop in inflation, Iceland’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged today and suggested that rate hikes were less probable than they had been in February. However, with... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Is Spain's recovery building momentum? Although timely activity indicators suggest that the Spanish economy may have built a bit of momentum at the start of 2014, we suspect that the recovery will remain disappointingly weak. 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Sedlabanki softens its stance but rates are still likely to rise In light of the recent drop in inflation, Iceland’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged today and suggested that rate hikes were less probable than they had been in February. However, with... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Renzi's recent reforms are the easy part The measures announced by the Italian PM yesterday represent a valuable short-term stimulus to the economy. But they also raise the cost of failing to implement more difficult structural reforms later... 13th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Disparity in Nordic inflation rates to be sustained for now February’s consumer prices figures for the Nordic countries revealed a continued disparity between subdued inflation rates in Sweden and Denmark on the one hand and much stronger price pressures in... 11th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Greek bail-out has bigger problems than current dispute Greece and the Troika may resolve the issues that have delayed the latest loan disbursement soon, but this will not resolve the fact that the country’s bail-out rests on unrealistic forecasts. 11th March 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Disparity in Nordic inflation rates to be sustained for now February’s consumer prices figures for the Nordic countries revealed a continued disparity between subdued inflation rates in Sweden and Denmark on the one hand and much stronger price pressures in... 11th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update ECB bolsters guidance, but may still need to act The ECB opted to keep its policy powder dry today, preferring instead to strengthen its verbal forward guidance by emphasising the large amount of slack in the economy. But we still think it may need... 6th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Light at the end of the tunnel for Slovenia Although the strength of Slovenia’s Q4 GDP outturn owed a lot to temporary factors, the expansion underlined that the economy is on the road to recovery and will probably avoid a euro-zone bail-out. 6th March 2014 · 1 min read