All-property values are down 18% from their mid-2022 peaks. And with appraisal-based cap rates still set to tick higher, we expect further small falls in values. That should take the peak-to-trough decline to over 20% by end-2025. At the sector level, we …
25th November 2024
BoI on hold as upside inflation risks remain The Bank of Israel (BoI) left its policy rate on hold again today, at 4.50%, and the accompanying communications suggest that the risk of a return to interest rate hikes has receded over the past month. Even …
Residential construction employment has been performing much better than the slump in construction over the past year might have implied. We suspect that is because job losses in the new home construction sector have been concentrated among undocumented …
Given the considerable uncertainty surrounding what policies president-elect Donald Trump will enact during his second term, there is a temptation to read a lot into his Cabinet nominations, but we would caution against that. Following his comprehensive …
Currencies across Latin American have held up well in the wake of the US election, but we think that they will come under pressure as the dollar strengthens on the back of Trump’s policy proposals. The Mexican peso looks particularly vulnerable to sharp …
Donald Trump’s latest threat to impose massive tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada are a reminder that this is a very real threat to the global economic outlook. In this special briefing, our senior economist team answered questions from the audience as …
Growth picks up, but outlook remains challenging Nigeria recorded a surprise pick-up in GDP growth to 3.5% y/y in Q3 as stronger growth in the non-oil economy more than offset a slowdown in the oil sector. We expect growth to remain soft until the …
Shock victory for far-right candidate raises risks for Romania The surprise lead for an independent far-right candidate, Călin Georgescu, in the first round of Romania’s presidential election raises the risk of an abrupt shift towards more populist …
Europe Commercial Property Valuation Monitor (Q4 2024) …
News of who’s in – and who’s out – of Donald Trump’s government, and what that means for the US and the rest of the world, continues to swirl. While Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary is reassuringly orthodox, there is still …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. German economy still in the doldrums The fall in the Ifo Business Climate Index (BCI) in November left it even deeper into recessionary territory and is consistent with our view …
Discussion on the latest episode of The Weekly Briefing from Capital Economics attempts to avoid any mention of Donald Trump – and fails almost immediately. But Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing’s point is that there is a lot going on in the world …
22nd November 2024
SARB: lower CPI target poses upside risk to rates The SARB seemed optimistic when cutting its repo rate by 25bp to 7.75%, this week and, while we expect further easing, the growing likelihood that the inflation target will be lowered in the coming months …
The US dollar has rallied further this week as investors have continued to price in the implications of a second Trump term and digest weak economic data in key trading partners. This rally has taken the DXY Index to its highest level since November 2022 …
November’s weaker-than-expected Flash PMIs for the euro-zone prompted investors to lower their policy rate expectations. Even so, we still expect more easing than implied in money markets, so we think Bund yields will fall a bit further. The euro-zone …
The recent stronger price and activity data, along with the announcement this week of a sales-tax break over the festive period and stimulus cheques to come next year, means we now think the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates by 25bp at its December …
The latest flash PMIs suggest that while industry continues to struggle across advanced economies, services activity is now slowing in Europe too. While reduced political uncertainty seems to have lifted business sentiment in the US, the PMIs suggest that …
Mexico: meeting fiscal targets will be a tall order Mexico’s draft 2025 budget had been widely anticipated given the recent sharp deterioration in the country’s public finances – the deficit is set to come in at a multi-decade high of 5.0% of GDP this …
Overview – The fiscal loosening announced in October’s Budget means inflation and gilt yields are now set to be higher than previously expected over the next few years. And with the spread of gilt yields over property yields currently narrow, that implies …
We remain sceptical that deregulation will provide a disinflationary boost to the economy’s supply side and we suspect that any reduction in government spending or headcount would turn out to be modest. Libertarian-minded Republicans have long-believed …
While it was widely expected that CPI inflation would rise above the 2.0% target in October, the rebound from 1.7% to 2.3% was stronger than most forecasters had anticipated. And our view is that CPI inflation will rise further, to nearly 3.0% in January …
Russia’s war in Ukraine escalates Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated this week, with the US shifting its strategy to give Ukraine the go-ahead to use Western-provided long-range weapons on Russian territory and Russia launching an …
Earlier this week, our markets team revised our bond yield forecasts, raising our 10-year US Treasury yield forecast on the back of Trump’s election, but generally lowering our forecasts for euro-zone yields. (See here .) We now forecast the 10-year …
The resilience of commodity trade: a history lesson The election victory of Donald Trump and the prospect of renewed trade restrictions has naturally sharpened attention on the potential impact of tariffs on trade flows, including on commodity trade. Our …
Consumption outlook improving fast The strong increase in retail sales volumes in September confirms that they grew by around 5% annualised last quarter, suggesting that household consumption growth picked up strongly. The October preliminary estimate …
Unsurprisingly, a second Trump presidency will support oil and gas production while rolling back environmental regulations. The fate of the Inflation Reduction Act is less certain, given that the support for manufacturing investment aligns with Trump’s …
Fall in inflation leaves door open for December cut The larger-than-expected fall in Mexican inflation in the first half of November, to 4.6% y/y, alongside easing core price pressures and the relative resilience in the peso mean that Banxico is likely to …
Our base case is that protectionist policies from the US next year will have only a small economic impact on Europe, but the fallout will vary between countries and there are risks of greater damage if the trade conflict escalates. Meanwhile, the EU will …
More policy support is needed When the Bank of Korea started its easing cycle in October , it pushed back strongly against the prospect of back-to-back rate cuts. Most analysts still expect rates to be left unchanged at 3.25% when the central bank meets …
Air pollution a modest but persistent headwind Even by India’s unenviable standards, there has been a marked deterioration in air quality over recent weeks. Air pollution in New Delhi has been above the government’s “severe” threshold for much of the …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Budget and Trump may have triggered slowdown in activity At face value, the fall in the composite PMI from 51.8 in October to 49.9 in November suggests that real GDP growth is …
With the dust settling on Trump’s victory earlier this month, this Update takes stock of what has happened across currencies, bonds, and equities; the reasons for these moves; and what we think will happen next. As was the case after Trump’s win in 2016, …
Local governments ramp up support Efforts by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to get local governments to make greater use of their existing fiscal space are starting to pay off. Data published this week showed that fiscal spending accelerated sharply in …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Economy stalling again The slump in the euro-zone Composite PMI in November suggests that the economy is losing momentum in Q4 and supports our below-consensus growth forecast, …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Slow start to the golden quarter, but the outlook is improving The bigger-than-expected 0.7% m/m fall in retail sales in October (consensus forecast -0.3% m/m) suggests that …
Risks are shifting towards more BoJ tightening The stars are aligning for our long-held view of another rate hike before year-end. For a start, the LDP/Komeito coalition and the DPP have agreed on a ¥13.9tn (2.3% of GDP) supplementary budget. The LDP …
Student numbers set to fall regardless The minutes of the November RBA meeting were rather hawkish. The Bank noted that even if inflation weakened more sharply than expected, it would “need to observe more than one good quarterly inflation outcome to be …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Flash PMI points to continued rebound in activity The renewed rise in the composite PMI supports our view that activity will continue to expand at a robust pace in the remainder …
Pick-up in underlying inflation will prompt rate hike next month The slowdown in headline inflation in October was due to base effects from utilities prices. With underlying inflation climbing further above the Bank’s 2% target, the case for another rate …
21st November 2024
Spain’s economy is outperforming the euro-zone as a whole, and the difference is also evident in the labour market, which is still tightening at a decent pace. There now appears to be little slack left in Spain’s labour market and so we think an imbalance …
Romania will elect a new government over the coming weeks at a time when the economy is performing poorly, inflation is running above target, and macroeconomic stability depends on policymakers pushing through much-needed fiscal consolidation. The most …
Modest rise in homes sales does not mark the start of the recovery The modest rise in existing home sales in October reflects the earlier drop in mortgage rates over the summer and is unlikely to be repeated, as borrowing costs have since rebounded to 7%. …
The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to lower its repo rate by 25bp to 7.75% was not a surprise and Governor Kganyago sounded more optimistic that inflation is under control. Lingering concerns about the vulnerability of the rand and the growing …
Given our expectation that the Trump administration will push forward with plans to raise tariffs across the board, we have generally revised down our forecasts for stock markets outside the US. And with China being the main target of the trade war, we …
We don’t think the S&P 500’s AI tailwind has run out of puff yet, despite the seemingly lukewarm market reaction to Nvidia’s latest profit result. It’s tempting to see a warning sign for the broader market in the reaction to Nvidia’s latest profit …
Egypt’s policy agenda shifts to long term reforms With Egypt’s macroeconomic stability restored, officials are starting to turn their attention to longer term reforms and number one on the list appears to be reinvigorating the stalled privatisation drive. …
Interest rate cuts still a few months away (at least) The communications accompanying the decision by the Turkish central bank (CBRT) to leave its policy rate unchanged again today, at 50.00%, suggest that analysts’ expectations for an easing cycle to …
US President-elect Trump’s protectionist rhetoric may mean that African sovereigns are contemplating the loss of preferential trade access to the US via the AGOA scheme. We think the overall impact from such a move would be limited, but specific sectors …
