Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Another fiscal surplus is in sight Today’s budget update showed that the government now expects a balanced budget in 2023/24, as opposed to the modest deficit it had projected a few months ago. With revenue likely to outperform the... 13th December 2023 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economic Outlook Downturn will prompt policy easing next year We suspect that both economies will narrowly avoid a recession but a prolonged period of below-trend growth will reduce price pressures and allow central banks to ease monetary policy again. We’ve... 13th December 2023 · 20 mins read
Bank of Japan Watch Bank will end negative rates in January The Bank of Japan is increasingly keen to abolish negative interest rates and we think the most likely venue is the Bank’s January meeting. However, we only expect one interest rate hike to 0.1% as... 12th December 2023 · 8 mins read
US Rapid Response Consumer Prices (Nov.) The slightly stronger 0.28% m/m rise in core consumer prices in November suggests the Fed may be able to hang onto its tightening bias for a little longer, but sharper declines in inflation are still... 12th December 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Labour Market (Oct./Nov. 2023) The sharp fall in wage growth in October will probably further fuel investors’ expectations that interest rates could be cut as soon as the middle of next year and it leaves our forecast for rate cuts... 12th December 2023 · 3 mins read
US Economics Focus Resurgence in labour force has further to run The resurgence in the labour force over the past year mainly reflects the ongoing boost to participation from increasing opportunities for women to combine parenthood with work, more young people... 11th December 2023 · 15 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update What to make of the RBNZ’s new framework We doubt that the removal of the RBNZ’s employment objective would make much difference to economic outcomes, but forcing the Bank to achieve its inflation target within too short a period of time... 11th December 2023 · 3 mins read
US Economics Weekly Markets call the Fed's bluff on higher for longer The Fed may not be quite ready to abandon its tightening bias at this week’s FOMC meeting, but the markets are no longer buying its “higher for longer” mantra. The main factor behind the shift in... 8th December 2023 · 7 mins read
Canada Economics Weekly Bank risks doing more harm than good The Bank of Canada this week reiterated that strong immigration is putting upward pressure on inflation because housing supply is failing to keep up. Yet the Bank surely can’t be oblivious to the... 8th December 2023 · 5 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Tide turning to earlier rate cuts, but BoE to cut last Investors now think the first interest rate cut will happen in June next year instead of August, with an 80% chance of a cut by May. Our forecast is that the Bank of England won’t cut interest rates... 8th December 2023 · 10 mins read
Japan Economics Weekly BoJ sending further signals that negative rates will end Data released this week showed that inflation fell sharply in Tokyo while wage growth remains well below the levels the BoJ considers necessary for meeting its 2% inflation target on a sustained basis... 8th December 2023 · 7 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Rate cuts will be in play sooner than most expect The RBA's revised Statement on the Conduct of Monetary Policy has been interpreted as hawkish by some commentators. However, our view is that the new statement doesn't meaningfully alter the RBA's... 8th December 2023 · 6 mins read