A rushed deal for UBS to take over embattled rival Credit Suisse ahead of the start of the Monday open is the latest effort by authorities to restore market confidence and staunch a crisis in the banking sector that is now threatening to run into its …
19th March 2023
Was Silicon Valley Bank's failure an isolated case of bad balance sheet management, or does it point to the start of another financial crisis? As policymakers scrambled to shore up market confidence ahead of the open, Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing …
12th March 2023
It’s US payrolls week and all eyes will be on whether January’s blowout jobs growth number was just a one-off or confirmation that – despite the Fed’s actions – the labour market remains tight. Labour market conditions matter hugely for how much further …
5th March 2023
By mid-century, India will have risen to become the world’s third biggest economy. But China will remain at number two, despite forecasts that it is set to overtake the US. These are findings from our latest Long Run Economic Outlook, a report which looks …
24th February 2023
Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago this week, prompting a torrent of prediction about how much this singular moment would change Europe’s economy forever. 12 months later, David Wilder talks to Andrew Kenningham, our Chief Euro-zone Economist, and Liam …
19th February 2023
Could turmoil in the US banking sector mark the end of Fed rate hikes? What are the contagion risks from the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank? What will the regulatory response look like? This is a special Capital Economics Weekly Briefing episode all …
13th March 2023
China data for May fell short of expectations and Capital Economics clients want to know what the government’s going to do about it. Our China Drop-In was one of two online briefings we held for them last week, along with our post-Fed, post-ECB, pre-Bank …
18th June 2023
In this special episode of the Capital Economics Weekly Briefing, our team of property economists explain how commercial and housing markets are faring in a world of rapid and large increases in interest rates. Taking in everything from the crisis in …
21st June 2023
After that shock CPI report and the Bank of England’s aggressive response, Neil Shearing discusses whether the UK is a high inflation-slow growth outlier. Along with his survey of the latest advanced economy data, the Capital Economics Group Chief …
23rd June 2023
Accusations of ‘greedflation’ are flying thick and fast, fuelling public anger over rising prices, putting executives on the defensive and pressuring politicians to do something. But are companies really taking advantage of inflation’s return to maximise …
2nd July 2023
We've just published our Q3 Outlook reports for the global economy and markets. They tell a fairly grim near-term story of inflation, recession and weaker equities prices. But there's nuance within that narrative, including emerging markets outperformance …
7th July 2023
US stocks ended the week with a broad rally in the wake of the May jobs report, but the S&P 500’s performance this year has been mostly dictated by the outsized strength of just a handful of giant tech firms. Oliver Allen and Adam Hoyes from our Financial …
4th June 2023
These are not normal economic times and that makes the job of policymakers – and economists – that much harder. Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing talks to David Wilder about why this cycle is unlike any other, but also why it's likely to end in …
9th June 2023
Neil Shearing says the UK’s April CPI report was a “horrorshow”. The Capital Economics Group Chief Economist tells David Wilder why sticky inflation readings make recession more likely – despite the popular view that a downturn can be avoided – while …
27th May 2023
The cover story of The Economist magazine this past week has been largely based on our long-held view that China’s economic growth would slow to just 2% by the end of this decade, and wouldn’t surpass the US as the world’s biggest economy. The Capital …
21st May 2023
The sick man of Europe. Broken Britain. Stagflation nation. The UK has had an unenviable post-pandemic economic recovery, lagging other advanced economies on growth but ahead of the pack when it comes to inflation. But how much of what ails the UK economy …
18th May 2023
The White House and congressional leaders are still working to try to reach agreement on raising the debt ceiling, but there’s no guarantee that a deal will get done in time. Deputy Chief US Economist Andrew Hunter and Deputy Chief Markets Economist Jonas …
12th May 2023
Last week began with another US bank failure and ended with hotter-than-expected headline jobs data. In between, Jerome Powell sounded optimistic about the likelihood of a soft economic landing. But how realistic is that? Group Chief Economist Neil …
7th May 2023
Central bankers are driving the global economy into its steepest downturn in four decades, barring the GFC and the pandemic. But which economies will be hardest hit and how will the onset of recession change the inflation-monetary tightening calculus? …
31st October 2022
The recent rise in oil prices to $90 per barrel means CPI inflation is likely to rise from 6.8% in July to 7.1% in August, but it won’t prevent inflation falling to the 2% target by the middle of next year. Even if oil prices climbed to $100 per barrel, …
8th September 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Rebound in hiring should ease recession concerns The rebound in employment and larger increase in hours worked in August suggest the economy bounced back following some of the …
The UK government’s failure to award any new offshore wind-power contracts in its latest procurement round ultimately stems from bean-counting stinginess and is nothing that a lot of extra government investment won’t fix. But with the days of ever-cheaper …
The decision by the National Bank of Poland (NBP) to kick off its easing cycle this week with a much larger-than-expected 75bp interest rate cut has been heavily criticised, and suggests to us that policymakers are underestimating the challenge of …
Having remained resilient over the past months, inflows into EM bonds and equity markets have turned negative in recent weeks. Inflows into Turkey have weakened despite August’s sharp interest rate hike and while India has continued to see notable …
Geopolitics loom large over New Delhi showcase Following the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the south pole of the moon in August, this weekend’s G20 summit in New Delhi will undoubtedly be presented as another foreign policy triumph by the BJP as …
Headline inflation jumps in August The long and steady decline in inflation across Emerging Asia came to an end last month, with headline inflation picking up in all six countries that have so far reported August price data. (See Chart 1.) Chart 1: …
Huawei's chip breakthrough The launch of Huawei’s new phone, the Mate 60 Pro, has sparked a debate over the effectiveness of US export controls that were tightened last year, restricting the sale to China of machinery needed to produce sub-18nm chips. The …
Consumption set to slow further The 0.4% q/q rise in Q2 GDP was a touch stronger than the RBA’s August estimate of 0.2%, but the more important question is what the figures mean for the outlook for the economy over the coming quarters. On past form, the …
MoF signaling some concern over weaker yen As the yen weakened to nearly 148 against the dollar this week, the government has signalled its readiness to intervene in foreign exchange markets to stop its slide. Masato Kanda from the Ministry of Finance …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Wage growth should moderate as inflation cools While the sharp slowdown in wage growth in July wasn’t as bad as it looks, it suggests that above-target inflation won’t prompt …
Note: We’ll be discussing the ECB September rate decision – along with those of the Fed and the Bank of England – in a ‘Drop-In’ on Thursday, 21 st September. Register here to join the online briefing. We think the ECB is slightly more likely to hike than …
7th September 2023
A “soft landing” for the economy in the US seems increasingly possible, so we look back at previous similar episodes to get an idea of what might be ahead for equities there. Despite the Fed’s aggressive tightening cycle over the past year and a half, it …
Although the Canadian dollar has held up relatively well among G10 currencies, we think it will weaken in the coming quarters as investors discount a more dovish policy path for the Bank of Canada (BoC). Despite the broad-based strength in the US dollar …
Markets cheered the US June inflation report, with equities rising and yields falling on solid evidence that the forces that drove core inflation to a four-decade high are in retreat. But is the crisis really over? How will the Fed respond in July and …
16th July 2023
Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing walks through the summer’s big market themes to discuss the growth outlook, the China slowdown scares and whether the hype around AI is justified. Along the way, he gives his take on the latest PMI readings, explains …
24th August 2023
Government bond yields have been hitting multi-year highs even though data show inflation in retreat and central bankers are preparing to down tools – if they haven’t already. Why the disconnect? Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing talks to David Wilder …
17th August 2023
While China’s latest price reports have markets worrying about deflation, Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing thinks the real issue is what’s happening in core inflation against a backdrop of a struggling economy. He also reviews the “immaculate” July CPI …
10th August 2023
Economies aren’t doing what Economics 101 says they should be doing, with disinflationary evidence piling up, even as labour markets remain in relatively good shape. Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing talks to David Wilder about the sell-off in the bond …
4th August 2023
The euro-zone may be mired in recession, but that won’t stop the ECB from raising rates again this coming week in order to get inflation – a “greedy beast”, according to Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel – under control. Deputy Chief Eurozone …
21st July 2023
It was one of those turning points in the global economy which deserved more attention: Chinese passenger car exports exceeded Japan’s this past May, powered by the country’s rapidly-expanding electric vehicle sector. It’s a marker of China’s …
24th July 2023
Emerging market (EM) easing cycles are underway in earnest even as the first Fed cut remains a while away. We think this easing will help to drive EM local-currency (LC) government bond yields lower, in general, over the rest of 2023. But we still expect …
Recent patterns in the US stock market are sending mixed signals about the extent to which investors are braced for an economic downturn. Our own view is that equities will struggle to make more headway this year – even if the economy avoids an outright …
Saudi oil output cut rollover a significant GDP hit Earlier this week Saudi Arabia confirmed that it will extend its additional voluntary 1mn bpd oil output cut until the end of this year which will result in a significant hit to economic growth this …
We think that the positive impact of lower inflation on households’ real incomes in the coming quarters will be offset by weaker employment and nominal wage growth. As a result, we don’t think that lower inflation will drive a recovery in real consumer …
With affordability stretched and the economy slowing, housing market activity is expected to remain weak over the coming quarters. While we expect house prices to lose some of their recent momentum, the worst of the correction appears to have passed and …
China’s commodity import volumes rose strongly in August compared to July. Crude oil imports were probably supported by the ongoing recovery in the aviation sector, which we expect to continue in coming months. But greater enforcement of steel output …
As summer holidays draw to a close attention is quickly turning to September’s big central bank decisions. Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing and the team have been sifting through weeks of data from the US, euro-zone and UK to assess what the Fed, ECB …
1st September 2023
The UK government’s decision to block Marks and Spencer’s (M&S’) re-development of its flagship store highlights the challenges in the transition to net zero. In particular, while authorities are using regulation to force owners into greener choices, if …
Will the FOMC’s September meeting confirm that the Fed is done with tightening? Will the ECB and Bank of England take rates higher? Will accompanying language give any hints about how long rates will stay elevated? Economists from our US, Europe and UK …
