Europe Economics Update ECB should be ready to act in September The market reaction to today’s ECB press conference suggests that President Draghi was not as dovish as some investors had hoped for. But the big picture is that it seems clear that policy loosening... 25th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update Tiered ECB deposit rate would be a dovish signal If it is introduced (which is far from certain) a tiered deposit rate would reduce the cost of negative interest rates for banks, but it would do so by only a trivial amount. Its main purpose would be... 24th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update SNB to cut rates in Q1 2020 While recent market attention has been on the ECB and Fed, the rise in the Swiss franc has ratcheted up the pressure on the SNB. As a result, investors have come around to our view that the Bank will... 23rd July 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Domestic weakness to weigh on the Swedish krona It is becoming harder for the Riksbank to brush aside mounting signs of weakness in domestic demand. We expect it to turn more dovish, and the krona to weaken, over the second half of the year. 22nd July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update Is the euro-zone economy turning a corner? The improvement in some of the recent economic data suggests that the risk of an imminent recession is low. But it does not suggest that the economy is about to rebound. We expect growth to remain... 17th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update ECB account confirms dovish intentions A lot has happened since the Governing Council’s policy meeting on 6th June, so the account published today has arguably been superseded by events. But it does confirm that even five weeks ago the... 11th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update New Democracy, same old problems New Democracy’s clear victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections yesterday will be welcomed by investors. But it will not be a game changer for the economy, not least because the government will... 8th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Riksbank bucks the dovish trend The decision by the Riksbank to leave its repo rate on hold at -0.25% this morning came as no surprise, but the fact that it left its (in our view) optimistic forecast for interest rates unchanged... 3rd July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update New ECB boss to be at least as dovish as Draghi Yesterday’s announcement that Christine Lagarde will succeed Mario Draghi leaves us even more confident that the ECB will loosen monetary policy in the coming months. We think the Bank is likely to... 3rd July 2019 · 4 mins read
Europe Economics Update A deep dive into euro-zone core inflation The jump in euro-zone core inflation in June seems to have largely reflected temporary factors. More generally, a range of measures of underlying inflation suggest that price pressures remain subdued... 2nd July 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Why ‘yield curve control’ wouldn’t work for the SNB Swiss pension funds and life insurers have been among the losers from negative interest rates, but the SNB is unlikely to follow the Bank of Japan’s example of targeting long-term bond yields to limit... 2nd July 2019 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update How will the Italy-EU budget clash play out? We had previously assumed that the EU would put Italy into an Excessive Deficit Procedure in July, but recent reports suggest that this might be postponed until later in the year. Either way, Italy’s... 28th June 2019 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Update Portugal’s outlook still bright, but debt worryingly high Portugal recovered well from the euro-zone crisis and its economy is set to record above-trend growth for the rest of this year and next. But its high public and private debt levels suggest that it is... 27th June 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Central Bank of Iceland to cut further this year Following this morning’s decision by the Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) to cut its key interest rate by 25bps, we now think that further cuts are in the pipeline. However, to the extent that a rumoured... 26th June 2019 · 3 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Swiss-EU spat no threat to the franc’s safe haven status While the escalating spat between Switzerland and the EU has drawn obvious parallels with Brexit, the implications for Switzerland are likely to be quite modest. And while Brexit has taken a toll on... 26th June 2019 · 4 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Norges Bank leaves door open for another rate hike This morning’s decision by the Norges Bank to raise its policy rate from 1.00% to 1.25% came as no surprise. But while policymakers left the door open for further rates hikes in 2019, we think there... 20th June 2019 · 1 min read
