Tankan suggests economy is firing on all cylinders While business conditions were unchanged in the latest Tankan survey, the survey suggests that an increasingly overheating economy is creating strong price pressures. The Tankan’s headline measure of …
1st April 2025
While the recent outperformance of euro-zone stocks relative to US ones may have a bit further to run, we doubt European equities would hold up in absolute terms if US stocks fell much further. The renewed sell-off in the US stock market has added to its …
31st March 2025
Our View: The economies of Central and Eastern Europe appear to have ended Q1 on a positive note, and Germany’s fiscal U-turn has improved prospects for regional export demand – we have recently revised up our GDP growth forecasts slightly for this year …
Ahead of reciprocal tariffs being announced on April 2 nd , dubbed “liberation day”, this Update addresses to what extent US commodities trade could be caught in the crossfire. The most exposed commodities are generally industrial metals, especially …
Likely fall in services inflation points to April cut National inflation figures released so far suggest that euro-zone headline inflation edged down in March. Services inflation probably also fell, which will please ECB officials. The fall in German …
Overview – We’ve become more concerned about the outlook for the economy due to the drags from higher businesses taxes and the more uncertain global backdrop being bigger than we thought and the boost from government spending being smaller. Our forecasts …
The blowout in Mexico’s budget deficit to its largest level since the 1980s last year means that the government has little scope to offset the hit to the economy from US tariffs. There’ll probably be some slippage on the government’s plans to rein in the …
Whilst buying gold may reduce central banks’ overall exposure to the dollar, we don’t think that the surge in central bank gold demand reflects a severe loss of confidence in the greenback. Instead, the perception of gold itself as a safe haven is …
The US would have to exert a lot of pressure to coerce most major countries into putting large tariffs on goods from China . Curtailing trade with China would have an economic cost and even countries that have closer economic ties with the US would still …
The recent scrapping of the carbon tax in Canada shows that the political pushback against climate policy is certainly not just confined to the United States. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumours of the death of climate policy are greatly exaggerated; …
The President is calling it “Liberation Day”, but nobody knows exactly what the White House will come up with when the long-awaited reciprocal tariffs plan is finally unveiled on 2nd April – including, it seems, the administration itself. Initial …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Tentative signs households may be starting to spend a bit more freely February’s money and lending figures provide some green shoots of households starting to save less and spend …
Net lending to property rises to close to a 5-year high Net lending to property continued its recent run of strength in February, with total lending of £1.58bn up from £917m in January and the highest monthly figure since May 2020. As usual the rise was …
Africa Chart Pack (Mar. 2025) …
Services weakness holding back growth This report was first published on the 31 st March covering the official PMIs. We added commentary on the Caixin manufacturing PMI on 1 st April. The PMIs suggest that infrastructure spending is ramping up again and …
There’s a “whiff of stagflation” around the US economy – and that’s even before Donald Trump rolls out his reciprocal tariffs plan. Group Chief Economist Neil Shearing hops off a plane from New York and onto The Weekly Briefing from Capital Economics to …
28th March 2025
Despite President Trump’s decision to jump the gun with tariffs on the auto sector this week (ahead of next week’s widely trailed announcement on 2 nd April), the dollar is ending the week broadly flat on net. In part, that may be on account of the damage …
Motor vehicle tariffs to boost inflation The Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on most motor vehicle and some parts imports is an upside risk to our inflation forecasts. As a reminder, our forecasts have long been based on the assumption that Trump would …
Hopes of making it a week without any new tariff news were dashed on Wednesday when President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on motor vehicle and parts imports from April 3 rd . Despite accounting for 10% of Canada’s goods exports to the US, the hit …
The UK may have one of the most shielded economies against US tariffs. But stagflation and fiscal risks at home provide strong headwinds for its bond market. The UK is likely to get to the other side of US tariffs unscathed compared to other economies . …
China Chart Pack (Mar. 25) …
With all the major business surveys for March now published, it is clear that while sentiment in the euro-zone has jumped, activity is still growing slowly at best. The more sentiment-driven ZEW and Sentix indices recorded big increases but the Composite …
Trump’s auto tariffs to deal limited blow to SA South Africa finds itself in the firing line from US President Trump’s auto tariffs, but the macro impact will be limited and other developments over the past week have been more positive for the country’s …
Red hot, red metal As it stands, there is still no clarity on when, or indeed if , the US administration will announce tariffs on copper imports. The US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, ostensibly has until November to prepare his report on …
Solid rise in GDP not a sign of things to come The stronger-than-expected 0.4% m/m rise in GDP in January, along with an upward revision to the December outturn, shows the economy still had solid momentum at the start of this year. The weak February …
Tariffs – UK still not very exposed The announcement of US reciprocal tariffs on 2 nd April will dominate next week. The UK has mostly flown under the radar of Trump’s tariffs and its economy is naturally less exposed than others – our Trade War Dashboard …
Inflation too hot and spending too cold The third consecutive above-target gain in core PCE prices in February, of 0.37% m/m, reinforces our view that the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates this year. Admittedly, officials are likely to be concerned by …
Overview – Economies across Sub-Saharan Africa are amongst the least affected EMs by the protectionist shift that the US is embracing. And growth in the region is set for a modest pick-up on the back of lower inflation and easing monetary policy. But …
In a further escalation of his trade war, US President Trump on Wednesday announced a 25% tariff on assembled motor vehicles and some key components: engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain parts, and electrical components. (See our initial …
Autos now in the crosshairs The Trump administration’s announcement of a 25% import tariff on autos and some auto parts will have a particularly large impact on Hungary and Slovakia. Our detailed response on Thursday to the tariff news can be found here . …
Exports will take a hit soon The US vehicle tariffs announced this week will do little damage to China as its auto exports to the US account for less than 0.05% of GDP. But the “ reciprocal tariffs ” that President Trump is due to announce on Wednesday …
Net immigration to the euro-zone has been very high in recent years, and the risks are skewed towards it exceeding the European Commission’s projection of 0.3% per year over the long term. The historical trend suggests it could average 0.4%-0.5% while a …
Autos in the firing line Donald Trump’s announcement that he will impose 25% tariffs on all automotive imports into the US from 3 rd April could be a big deal for parts of Asia. Korea and Japan are the most vulnerable. Exports of these products to the US …
This publication has been updated with additional analysis Growth still weak, but price pressures remain The EC survey for March shows a deterioration in business and consumer sentiment in the euro-zone, consistent with GDP doing little more than stagnate …
Given our view that the rise in yields outside Germany will not match the recent increase in Bund yields anytime soon, we are revising down our forecasts for euro-zone spreads. That said, we still expect spreads in France, Italy, and Belgium to widen due …
Concessions to Trump may not prove enough All eyes are now on the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff plans, due to be unveiled on Wednesday 2 nd April. There is still huge uncertainty around what form reciprocal tariffs will take. The administration …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Bumper rise in retail sales suggests households may be spending more freely Today’s deluge of data confirmed that the economy was weak even before the full effects of higher …
RBA will cut two more times this year Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed today that the next general election will be held on 3 rd May. The announcement comes closely on the heels of the government’s 2025/26 Budget , which includes an …
Time to act decisively has come The US this week announced a 25% tariff on auto imports and Japan will be among those economies most affected. (See here .) While PM Ishiba has said that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Japan’s response, our …
While US tariffs are a headwind, the continued acceleration in consumer prices will only heighten concerns among Bank of Japan’s Board members about inflation overshooting its 2% target. As the Bank should have a rough sense of the severity of US trade …
Door is open for another 50bp cut in May The statement accompanying the Mexican central bank’s (Banxico’s) decision to lower its policy rate by another 50bp cut, to 9.00%, today suggests that growth concerns are rapidly overtaking inflation concerns. …
27th March 2025
Overview – We’ve raised our GDP growth forecasts across most of the region for this year and think that Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies will pick up pace going into 2026, despite the headwind from US tariffs. An end to the war in Ukraine …
Emerging Markets Capital Flows Monitor (Mar. 2025) …
Table of Key Forecasts Global Overview – We expect the world economy to grow a touch slower in the next couple of years than it did in 2024. Trump’s policies will drag on US growth, policy support will not prevent a slowdown in China’s economy, and looser …
Despite President Trump’s pro-fossil fuel stance, the uncertainty caused by tariff policy and his aim for lower oil prices is weighing on sentiment among fossil fuel producers. Sentiment will continue to sour as oil prices underperform producers’ …
Equity investors have stopped ignoring US President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcements. We think they are right to do so. Donald Trump announced yesterday that all finished motor vehicle imports will be subject to a 25% tariff from next Thursday. This …
Following the series of US tariff announcements in early April, we have revised our forecasts. You can find the updated forecasts here . Overview – We have raised our assumption for the average US tariff rate that Canadian exporters will face, to a level …
DOGE-led layoffs of approximately 25,000 junior federal employees will be a modest drag on March payrolls, but they should be offset a rebound in weather-sensitive sectors. We forecast a smaller yet still healthy 140,000 employment gain and the …
Overview – Following upward revisions to our forecasts for policy rates and bond yields, we have raised our forecasts for prime property yields in Europe and now expect increases of around 20-25bps by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, despite a slightly …
