Political risks have intensified in the Andes this month, which could be part of a broader trend throughout the region. In Colombia, the protests against tax reforms have pushed policymakers away from the fiscal austerity measures required to repair the …
26th May 2021
The fall in all-property rents, dragged down by office and retail sectors, meant that annual capital value growth remained in negative territory in Q1, despite the surprise fall in yields. (See Chart 1.) Looking ahead, while the faster pace of the …
The economic outlook for much of Emerging Asia has deteriorated in recent weeks in response to a sudden jump in COVID-19 infections. Daily cases are surging in Thailand and Malaysia, and while the overall numbers remain low, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam …
While inflation fears have taken some steam out of the US stock market rally recently, we still think that equities in the US, and elsewhere, will make further gains over the next couple of years. Much of the focus in the markets over the past few weeks …
20th May 2021
With the faster pace of vaccination paving the way for a rebound in economic activity, the prospects for occupier markets have improved. However, structural changes mean that the recovery in the office and retail sectors will be gradual. In contrast, we …
New virus cases in India remain extremely high, but some solace can be taken from the fact that they have dropped rapidly over the past couple of weeks back to their level in mid-April. The share of tests returning positive has fallen too. Encouragingly, …
The severe waves of COVID-19 that afflicted Emerging Europe and Latin America earlier in the year are now subsiding and the near-term economic outlook there has brightened. But several Asian economies have become the focus of concern instead. India …
19th May 2021
Off the back of the weak Q1 GDP data, we now expect output to only rise 2% across 2021. The economy is unlikely to recover much in Q2 as cases are close to record highs and calls for a nationwide state of emergency growing. Moreover, only 4% of the …
The strength of demand coupled with supply constraints have made shortages of many goods even worse, with the inventory to sales ratio falling to a record low in March. (See Chart 1.) The surge in job openings and share of employers saying they are …
18th May 2021
Near-term inflationary pressures appear to be building. Some of this reflects factors that are likely to be only temporary, such as the “reopening inflation” associated with the easing of virus-related restrictions. We also think the broad-based rally in …
17th May 2021
The economic recovery looks well-set, which should support occupier markets. However, structural change in the office sector means that occupier demand continues to fall, even while the beleaguered retail sector is showing improvement. Both of those …
13th May 2021
The Riksbank will look through the recent pick-up in consumer price inflation in Sweden, which rose above the Bank’s 2% target in April for the first time since May 2019. After all, the energy-driven increase in the headline CPIF rate will be temporary, …
Mortgage rates have edged down since the end of March, but that didn’t prevent a fall in the share of households who see now as a good time to buy a home to a record low in April. (See Chart 1.) House price growth of 12% y/y, and record low inventory, …
12th May 2021
We’ve been more optimistic than most about the economic outlook since it was announced in November that COVID-19 vaccines were effective. But now that the COVID-19 restrictions are being removed, it looks as though the rebound in activity may be even …
11th May 2021
Although we forecast that that the “rotation” in equity markets generally has further to run, as COVID-19 is contained and economies re-open, we project that developed market (DM) Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will continue to underperform DM …
6th May 2021
After contracting again in the first quarter of this year, prospects for the second quarter have improved because the pace of vaccination has accelerated. At its recent pace, the euro-zone is on track to have vaccinated 70% of the adult population by …
The Q1 industrial profits data published this week were very strong. Net profits continued rise rapidly and are now 50% higher than they were two years ago. Only a third of this is due to higher sales. Instead, the bulk of the increase has come from …
30th April 2021
The sharp rises in copper and iron ore prices this month will have given a much-needed boost to African producers such as Zambia and South Africa. Gold also traded higher in April compared to March, supporting recoveries in the likes of Côte d’Ivoire, …
29th April 2021
The ratio of homes under construction to population growth is at a record high, reflecting both the strength of housing starts and the weakness of immigration. (See Chart 1.) While the boom in construction might seem like a much-needed response to the …
House prices are now surging in both countries. House price cycles in the Australian housing market tend to lag those in New Zealand a little, which is consistent with the forward indicators pointing to a rapid lift in the pace of annual Australian price …
Third virus waves held back recoveries in most countries in Q1, but the good news is that they appear to have peaked as new daily COVID-19 cases have fallen since mid-March. Russia has so far avoided a third wave and easing pressures on health systems …
28th April 2021
The Gulf economies, as well as Morocco, lead the way when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the region. The UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar have provided at least one dose to more than half of their population, while Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait …
A jump in new virus cases in Thailand is already showing signs of holding back the recovery and could jeopardise plans to reopen the crucial tourist sector. Despite its initial success in containing COVID-19 – there have so far been fewer than 200 deaths …
Inflation is above target in Brazil and Mexico, with Chile set to follow in the coming months, but only in the former is the central bank likely to respond with (further) interest rate hikes. Brazil’s case reflects a combination of high inflation, a …
27th April 2021
Our view that the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis will be faster and fuller than most expect is consistent with UK equity prices continuing to rise over the next couple of years. Admittedly, UK equities have lagged their international …
22nd April 2021
A turnaround in returns during March hinted at a brighter outlook, though this mainly reflected favourable base effects. We think both structural and cyclical headwinds remain and do not see this as the start of a sustained recovery. With restrictions …
21st April 2021
New COVID-19 cases have surged in the emerging world, with India, Emerging Europe and Latin America particularly hard hit. Social distancing measures have been tightened in many countries, which will weigh on activity. The early evidence suggests that the …
Tokyo, Hyogo and Kyoto are soon expected to join Osaka in asking the central government to declare a third state of emergency. While together those four prefectures only generate a third of national output, the experience during the second state of …
Our in-house mobility tracker suggests that the surge in virus infections in India is now weighing on activity. (See Chart 1.) This is likely to become more pronounced as the outbreak has become more widespread, causing several state assemblies to tighten …
The latest round of stimulus cheques and the easing of restrictions are driving a renewed resurgence in demand, with retail sales jumping by nearly 10% in March and the regional manufacturing surveys rising to their highest level since the 1970s. (See …
19th April 2021
The world economy lost considerable momentum in the first quarter as resurgences of the virus and tighter lockdown measures weighed on activity. The lesson from Q4 last year was that households and businesses have adapted to lockdown measures to a …
16th April 2021
The partial unwinding in the reflation trade in recent weeks has stopped the decline in the Swiss franc in its tracks. Having depreciated against both the US dollar and the euro since the start of this year, the franc rose against both currencies in …
14th April 2021
Overview – Strong growth in industrial demand helped push up the prices of energy commodities used primarily in power generation last month, but oil prices slipped back. We continue to expect average energy prices to be higher this year than last, …
12th April 2021
Mortgage rates rose further in March, with the 30-year rate now up 50bps compared to the start of the year. Recent stability in the 10-year Treasury yield means mortgage rates are likely to move sideways over the next couple of weeks, but we expect they …
9th April 2021
Overview – Aside from the temporary blockade of the Suez Canal, March was a relatively uneventful month for industrial metals prices. Nevertheless, we still expect prices to fall this year as mine supply rebounds, particularly in Latin America, at a time …
The euro-zone economy is doing better than many expected given that much of the hospitality and travel sector is still closed due to virus-related restrictions. Indeed, the latest business surveys suggest that manufacturing output is growing at a …
8th April 2021
Overview – A rise in new coronavirus infections in many parts of the world, including Europe and India, weighed on investor sentiment in commodity markets in March. However, all the signs point to a rapid recovery in US activity and, as vaccines are …
7th April 2021
We have become more pessimistic about the outlook for emerging market (EM) assets and currencies as we now expect the 10-year US Treasury yield to rise further over the next two years . EM assets and currencies have come under pressure recently. (See …
1st April 2021
While London house price growth and transactions volumes have underperformed their national equivalents over the past year, they have been robust in absolute terms. Indeed, the peak in house price growth of 6.7% y/y in November 2020 marked a four-year …
China’s vaccination campaign has accelerated sharply over the past week. The daily pace of vaccination is now only just short of the five million needed to hit the target of inoculating 40% of the population by the end of June. (See Chart 1.) The …
We now think that 10-year government bond yields in most developed markets (DMs) will rise further. However, we think that they will climb more rapidly in the US than elsewhere in the developed world. As such, we have revised up our forecast for the US …
31st March 2021
The economic outlook in the Philippines has gone from bad to worse over the past month. The main headwind is a renewed surge in virus infections, with the country now reporting around 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 each day. Metro Manila, which accounts for …
Latin America’s recovery has been far from plain sailing, and the recent rise in new COVID-19 cases across the region is yet another setback. This is most worrying in Brazil, where the health system is close to breaking point and lockdown measures have …
30th March 2021
Central banks in Sub-Saharan Africa bucked a recent “trend” of interest rate hikes in other emerging markets this month. Policymakers in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Angola all kept their benchmark rates unchanged. The backdrop of rising US Treasury …
Emerging Europe has been at the heart of the shift in EM monetary policy over the past month, with central banks in Russia, Turkey and Ukraine raising interest rates in March. The triggers for tightening were largely home grown in nature, including a …
25th March 2021
The recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the region adds to reasons to think that a recovery in tourism is some way off. Governments across the world seem, in any case, appear increasingly reluctant to open up to international travel amid fears of importing …
The housing market has gathered more momentum in the past month and, if this continues, could prompt the Bank to tighten policy sooner than we anticipate. The Teranet measure of house price growth rose to almost 10% y/y in February and the MLS measure …
24th March 2021
The jump in 10-year gilt yields from 0.29% at the end of January to 0.76% now has been driven by the markets pricing in a rise in inflation after the pandemic that they think will eventually prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates sharply. With …
After stabilising at the start of the year, all-property capital values grew slightly in February. But we don’t think this spells the start of a sustained recovery over the next few months. After all, virus restrictions are only expected to unwind …
18th March 2021
With mobility rebounding and the state of emergency finally being lifted across all prefectures this weekend, economic activity should enter Q2 with some momentum. While the second state of emergency has been less restrictive and more targeted than the …
