The good news just kept coming this week. The economy grew by an above-trend rate for the second quarter in a row in Q2 (see here ), the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, well below most estimates of the natural rate of around 4.50%. (See here .) And at …
16th August 2024
Poland the region’s star in Q2 Perhaps the standout feature of the data released in the region this week was the strength of Polish GDP in Q2. Output expanded by a bumper 1.5% q/q, its fastest pace since Q1 2022. (See our initial take here .) The data …
Corporate borrowing still growing at a decent clip China’s July credit data came in weaker than expected on Wednesday. In particular, despite the PBOC cutting the loan prime rate last month, net new bank loans to the real economy turned negative for the …
Manufacturing sales weakest since January 2022 It was an extremely poor month for the manufacturing sector in June, with sales falling to a two-and-a-half-year low. As new orders slumped, inventories are elevated and the S&P Global manufacturing PMI for …
Winds of change in Venezuela? Hopes for a regime change in Venezuela have risen after leftwing governments in Brazil and Colombia made several suggestions to overcome Venezuela’s impasse, including holding fresh elections or forming a transitional …
Housing starts hit by hurricane The slump in both housing starts and building permits in July, to the lowest levels since the epoch of the pandemic, only partly reflects the temporary impact of Hurricane Beryl. Accordingly, even though lower interest …
We think concerns about a wage-price spiral in Germany look overdone. The German Institute of Economic and Social Research (IW) suggested that wages in Germany would “shoot up” by 5.6% this year, based on agreements reached in the first six months. This …
Mpox fears rising on the continent This week, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency amidst a surge in cases in parts of Africa. Beyond the human tragedy, there may be disruption of economic activity in the region, with tourism impacted …
The strike at the world’s largest copper mine, Chinese export curbs on another critical mineral and the iron ore price tumbling to a yearly low rocked metals and minerals markets this week. While we suspect that global copper prices won’t be too affected …
Further political uncertainty in Thailand Today’s election by Thailand’s parliament of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister is unlikely to draw a line under the country’s mounting political instability. Paetongtarn’s father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck …
Regulator comes under fire in Adani Group saga The Adani Group/Hindenburg Research saga took a new twist this week, 18 months after the publication by the US short-seller alleging “brazen stock manipulation and account fraud over the course of decades” …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Better start to Q3 not as good as it looks After a weather disrupted Q2, July’s 0.5% m/m rise in retail sales volumes (consensus forecast 0.6% m/m, CE forecast 0.5% m/m) was …
The second estimate of Q2 GDP confirmed that Malaysia’s economy accelerated sharply but, with inflation set to jump, commodity prices likely to decline and the boost from tourism set to fade, we still expect a slowdown ahead. According to the second …
It has been three months since policymakers unveiled plans to encourage SOEs to buy unsold homes from developers. Progress has so far been slow, not least because participation is voluntary and the incentives for firms to take part are lacking. But the …
Real labour incomes rising again The 0.8% q/q rise in Q2 GDP was stronger than most had anticipated though close to our Nowcast estimate. The main driver was a 1% q/q jump in consumption, the first increase following four consecutive quarterly falls. That …
Downside risks abound in New Zealand Our non-consensus call that the RBNZ would start normalising policy this week came to fruition, with the Bank handing down its first rate cut in over four years. But while the Committee reached a full consensus that it …
Global Economics Chart Pack (August 2024) …
15th August 2024
While expectations for interest rates in the UK have already fallen by 40bp by end-2025 since mid-July, our projections for UK CPI inflation to remain below the 2% target for much of 2025 and 2026 suggest to us that the Bank of England (BoE) will ease …
Conditions have stabilised after a turbulent few weeks in financial markets, and we expect the rebound in equity markets over the past week or so to continue. Our assessment is that the market fallout from the weak early August US data was …
The recent drop in mortgage rates has caused house prices to rise a bit faster than expected. As a result, we now think house prices will grow by 2.0% y/y in Q4 2024 (1.0% previously). What’s more, our forecast that Bank Rate will be cut from 5.00% now to …
Minimal movement in property yields and a slight edge up in the 10-year Treasury yield meant improvement in our property valuation scores stalled in the second quarter of the year. Despite the recent financial market turmoil, we still expect the 10-year …
Given the revival in house prices and recent falls in mortgage rates, we are raising our Q4 2024 house price growth forecast from 1.0% y/y to 2.0%. We now think that the number of housing transactions per year will increase from 1.02m in 2023 to 1.07m in …
Temporary disruptions hit IP The fall in manufacturing output in July was entirely driven by temporary disruptions which should reverse this month. Excluding those temporary factors, this is a strong report which, together with last month’s solid gain in …
We were one of the only companies globally to correctly anticipate the results of the four policy announcements over the past month from the Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, Reserve Bank of Australia, and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which includes two …
Despite better occupier data in H1, the weak consumer backdrop and still elevated vacancy mean we expect German retail rents to only hold steady this year. Thereafter, we expect rental gains to lag the euro-zone average, especially in Frankfurt given the …
Don’t bet against the American consumer There was almost nothing in the July retail sales report for the perma-bears to latch on to, with the rebound in retail sales led by a recovery in vehicle sales, but encouragingly broad-based with control group …
Strong domestic demand means BanRep likely to maintain the pace of easing The Colombian economy isn’t nearly as weak as the meagre 0.1% q/q rise in headline GDP in Q2 would suggest; there was a large drag from net trade while domestic demand remained very …
We think there is better news on China’s economy in the pipeline that could underpin a rally in its lowly valued stock market. But in our view there is less scope for gains in China’s bonds. The CSI 300 Index registered a ~1% gain today, following the …
Inflation finally on the way down Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 33.4% in July, the first time it had slowed in 19 months, as the passthrough from previous naira falls has finally started to faded. With inflation having now peaked, we think …
Kuwait’s tax overhaul falls a little short… Governments in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have both stepped up reform efforts over the past week. Kuwait’s reforms are focused on the public finances, and diversifying revenues away from oil. Reports suggest that …
EM goods export growth has accelerated over the past year despite a slowdown in economic growth in DMs. We think this is being driven by three structural factors: Chinese overcapacity, the AI revolution and friendshoring. These will continue to shape …
Norges Bank’s decision to leave its policy rate unchanged at today’s meeting, at 4.5%, was never in doubt. However, we still suspect that continued declines in inflation will allow it to start cutting before the end of the year, which would be earlier …
Norges Bank at risk of falling behind the curve Norges Bank’s decision to leave its policy rate unchanged at 4.5% was never in doubt. We still suspect that continued declines in inflation will allow it to start cutting before the end of the year, which …
Inflation likely to ease as 2025 approaches Saudi Arabia’s headline inflation rate was unchanged at 1.5% y/y in July, but we expect that the headline rate will ease back over the remainder of this year and potentially fall back below 1% y/y by early 2025. …
BSP cuts rates, more easing to come The central bank in the Philippines (BSP) kicked off its easing cycle today with a 25bps cut (to 6.25%), and hinted that further easing was likely over the coming months. With inflation set to drop back further and …
Swiss economic growth returns to trend rate Switzerland’s sporting event-adjusted GDP growth accelerated to 0.5% q/q in Q2, its fastest pace in over a year and slightly above our forecast of 0.4%. At the margin this may give the SNB some caution against …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Strength in Q2 won’t last While the economy flatlined in June, it still managed to grow by 0.6% q/q rise in GDP in Q2. That said, some of the rebound in activity in Q2 may have …
Our Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack has been updated with the latest data and our analysis of recent developments. The Antipodean central banks will tread different paths when it comes to policy setting in the near term. With the New Zealand economy …
Deceleration eases with growth nearing turning point After slowing in Q2, economic momentum appears to have stabilised somewhat last month, with a pick-up in consumer spending and services activity largely offsetting a slowdown in investment and …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Labour force continues to absorb surge in workers The slight uptick in the unemployment rate last month belies a renewed acceleration in employment growth. Accordingly, the data …
Strong rebound in consumption points to further monetary tightening The strong rebound in GDP last quarter was driven by the first rise in consumption in more than a year and should encourage the Bank of Japan to press ahead with another rate hike later …
The muted reaction to today’s US CPI data reflects that most investors already expected inflation to fall to around 2% before long and remain there. But last week’s turmoil highlighted that when everyone is banking on one outcome – in this case, inflation …
14th August 2024
Since the Riksbank’s last meeting in June, Swedish inflation and activity data have been weaker than policymakers expected. We think this will encourage them to cut the key policy rate from 3.75% to 3.5% next week and to indicate at least a further 50bp …
The renewed widening of global imbalances has become another faultline in the fracturing of the world economy, and will continue to provoke trade barriers in the coming decades. With overall imbalances most prominent in the US, further tariffs aimed at …
CPI consistent with a 25bp rate cut rather than 50bp The 0.15% m/m increase in all-items CPI and the 0.17% increase in core CPI in July suggest that, after the temporary relapse in the first quarter, the disinflationary trend has firmly reasserted …
While investment has tentatively turned a corner, subdued activity and further rises in cap rates mean 2024 will still be a tough year. All-property values are down by 18% from their mid-2022 peaks, but we expect the eventual peak-to-trough decline to …
South African economy looks to have recorded a pick-up in growth in Q2, but the recovery is operating at two speeds with retail sales and manufacturing on the up, while the mining sector remains a weak spot. Nonetheless, with easing electricity shortages …
Jordan’s economy has been among the hardest hit from the indirect spillovers of the war in Gaza. While severe balance of payments of strains are likely to be avoided, GDP growth will suffer as the key tourism sector has taken the brunt of the impact. And …
