UK Economics Weekly Even a small Brexit hit could leave fiscal rules broken Relatively small overshoots in public sector borrowing, like that shown in last week’s figures, could soon pale into insignificance if the UK were to vote to leave the EU next month. Indeed, the... 27th May 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Consumer back on form Last week broke the recent run of disappointing news and went some way to calming fears that the economy is slowing abruptly. Perhaps most reassuring was the pick-up in retail sales growth, given that... 20th May 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly How will the MPC respond to the EU referendum? The MPC’s attempt to base its forecasts on the UK remaining in the EU suggests that it believes trade-weighted sterling will rise by around 5% on a vote to stay. But it also implies that it doesn’t... 13th May 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Resilient sentiment suggests economic gloom overdone The economy seems to be on a worrying downward trajectory. But if activity were about to fall off a cliff, we might expect forward-looking measures of confidence and expectations to be tumbling and... 6th May 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly How much of Q1 slowdown is due to Brexit fears? Softening activity indicators and the moderation in quarterly GDP growth from 0.6% in Q4 to 0.4% in Q1 have fuelled a number of warnings, notably from Chancellor George Osborne and the OECD, that the... 29th April 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Both sides overstate effect of Brexit on trade At the heart of most of last week’s wealth of Brexit-related publications and comments was the issue of what will happen to trade if the UK votes to leave. As with pretty much all aspects of the... 22nd April 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Brexit fears not weighing heavily on bank lending It is generally accepted that the main channel through which uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum will hit the economy is the negative impact on business investment. But on the whole, last week’s... 15th April 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly How worrying are the falls in the activity surveys? Last week’s Markit/CIPS surveys pointed to a slowdown in GDP growth in the first quarter, a picture supported by other activity surveys. But while the economy seems to be going through a slightly... 8th April 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Is the recovery getting back on track? The increase in quarterly GDP growth from 0.4% in Q3 to an around-trend rate of 0.6% in Q4 suggests that the recovery has regained some momentum. There are factors that should stop growth from... 1st April 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly More than just red flag waving from the FPC soon? The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) had a lot on its plate at last week’s meeting, with concerns about the impact of a Brexit only adding to the long list of existing risks to financial stability... 24th March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Will Osborne’s big squeeze really happen? Large parts of the Budget were clearly aimed solely at repairing the damage that the OBR’s new economic forecasts did to the Chancellor’s chances of meeting his fiscal target. That said, there is... 18th March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Fiscal policy won’t provide support for the recovery The two main events this week – the Budget and MPC decision – will highlight the divergence between monetary and fiscal policy stances. With Bank Rate likely to be held at 0.5%, marking seven full... 11th March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Take referendum propaganda with a pinch of salt Capital Economics does not have a strong axe to grind either way on the EU question. But we do feel that many of the arguments put forward on both sides are exaggerated – including those from the... 4th March 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Sterling’s fall is nothing to fear Brexit unsurprisingly dominated the news again last week, especially its continued downward impact on sterling. As the referendum nears, we expect to see further falls in the pound. However, this... 26th February 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Banking sector fears overdone One of the main areas of concern in markets in recent weeks has been the banking sector, both in the UK and overseas. However, we do not think that this pessimism about the UK’s banking sector is... 19th February 2016 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Could the market storm blow the recovery off course? The further bout of financial market turmoil last week has raised fears that a sharp slowdown in the UK economy may be on the horizon. But the strength of the labour market, loose monetary policy and... 12th February 2016 · 1 min read
