Overview – Cooling property construction is likely to weigh on economic activity in the coming quarters. But with external demand starting to stabilise, the slowdown should be gradual, as long as the coronavirus outbreak is contained. External Demand – …
23rd January 2020
Overview – Regional GDP growth is likely to gather pace this year as loose monetary and fiscal policy bolsters recoveries in Russia and Turkey and helps to cushion the slowdown in Central Europe. Interest rates will probably end this year lower than …
Table of Key Forecasts Overview – After a bad 2019, aggregate emerging market growth is likely to strengthen this year, driven by improvements in large EMs including Brazil, Russia and India. But recoveries will generally be lacklustre. And growth in …
22nd January 2020
We think growth and inflation will be below consensus in Switzerland and the Nordics this year. Switzerland is most exposed to the prolonged manufacturing recession in Germany and inflation there is likely to be close to zero. Meanwhile, we think the …
Overview – Growth in most Latin American economies should strengthen in 2020, but we expect that these recoveries will be slow and fragile. Indeed, the region is likely to be the worst performing part of the emerging world again this year. Inflation will …
21st January 2020
Overview – We expect economic growth to remain sluggish this year as external demand picks up only slowly and domestic demand softens. Employment growth is slowing, which will cause household incomes and spending to weaken, and investment intentions have …
Overview – Most countries in Emerging Asia should stage a gradual recovery over the coming year helped by continued policy support. Several have announced expansionary budgets or fiscal stimulus packages, while most central banks are likely to cut …
16th January 2020
Overview – Australia’s house prices may rise by 8% this year but consumers are still reeling under high debt loads. With growth set to fall short of potential, we still expect unemployment to rise further which should weigh on wage growth and underlying …
We expect most of the 2020s to be characterised by slow growth and very low inflation as persistently weak productivity growth leaves the developed world looking distinctly Japanese. But technological developments should ultimately bear fruit and we …
10th January 2020
Overview – After a year to forget in 2019, a combination of policy loosening and more effective measures to deal with the malaise in the shadow banking sector will push economic growth in India back up to a healthier pace in 2020. And with core inflation …
9th January 2020
Overview – The sales tax hike has not been as damaging as many had feared. But we remain more pessimistic about the outlook for global growth and domestic investment than most. That explains why we expect GDP to contract by 0.2% this year rather than …
8th January 2020
Overview – Mortgage interest rates have been close to 4% since October, and we expect they will stay at that level over the next couple of years. However, the support that will give to housing demand will be offset to some extent by tighter mortgage …
20th December 2019
Overview – The worst for GDP growth is not quite behind us but the economy’s prospects look better than they did a few months ago. Measures to boost existing oil pipeline capacity will help to offset still weak external demand in 2020, while consumption …
17th December 2019
Overview – Although trade tensions and the presidential election remain key downside risks, we expect looser financial conditions to drive an acceleration in GDP growth from the second half of next year onwards. We forecast that GDP growth will be 1.9% in …
16th December 2019
We think that returns from “risky” assets – equities, corporate bonds, REITs and industrial commodities – will generally beat those from “safe” ones – government bonds and precious metals – again over the next two years, as the global economy finds its …
13th December 2019
Overview – A weaker outlook for bond yields in Scandinavia and Switzerland means that falls in office and industrial yields are likely to extend into 2021. However, with rental prospects weak and yields rising, retail property is expected to underperform. …
Overview – We expect a further slowdown in euro-zone economic growth in 2020 to weigh on rental growth. However, with interest rates set to be cut next year and remain at this low level, there isn’t likely to be much upward pressure on bond yields over …
5th December 2019
Overview – Regardless of the outcome of the election and Brexit, we expect all-property returns to be weak over coming years. Indeed, even if a deal is secured and economic growth picks up, we expect weakness in the retail sector to weigh on all-property …
13th November 2019
As the markets have not fully priced in the Conservatives winning the general election on 12 th December and securing a Brexit deal, if that were to happen we suspect the pound would climb from $1.28 now to $1.35, 10-year gilt yields could rise from 0.76% …
Overview – We have revised up our end-2020 forecast for the prices of gold and silver to reflect the fact that we now expect roughly as much monetary easing by the Fed as the market. Meanwhile, we have trimmed our price forecasts for most base metals but …
1st November 2019
We have revised up our end-2019 forecasts for equities, which previously pointed to a large correction. But even without this big pothole, we continue to think that the road ahead for them will be bumpy. Admittedly, we had underestimated the extent to …
31st October 2019
Overview – The region is set to record its second-lowest growth rate this decade in 2019 and, while a recovery is likely to take hold in 2020, it will be slow going. The drag on the Gulf economies from this year’s oil production cuts will fade, but this …
24th October 2019
Overview – Regardless of what happens with Brexit in the months ahead, a revival in the owner occupier housing market is unlikely. Even if a Brexit deal is agreed soon, we expect to see only a small improvement in housing market transactions and house …
Overview – Oil prices are likely to remain subdued in the near term as the global economy continues to slow and risk aversion prevails. And while natural gas and coal prices could rise in the coming months as part of the usual season upturn in demand, the …
23rd October 2019
Overview – Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa will probably pick up in 2020, but we think that it will be much slower than most expect. The key reason for our downbeat view is South Africa, where we think that weak investment spending, tight policy, and …
Overview – While there appears to be little to lift spirits in the near term, we think the macro-economic backdrop for commodity markets will turn more positive during 2020. We expect global economic growth to pick up over the course of the year, which in …
18th October 2019
Table of Key Forecasts Global Overview – Growth has not yet reached a bottom and we expect weakness in advanced economies to drive a further slowdown around the turn of the year. Widespread monetary policy loosening is already underway and we think that …
17th October 2019
Overview – After a weak 2019, we expect that growth across most of Latin America will improve next year. That said, our forecasts for the regions two biggest economies – Brazil and Mexico – are below consensus. And Colombia and Argentina will miss out on …
16th October 2019
Overview – Looser policy will support stronger economic growth in Russia, as well as in Turkey (so long as US sanctions don’t get much worse), in the coming quarters. In contrast, the economies of Central and Eastern Europe are likely to slow further as …
In keeping with our bearish view on the euro-zone, our forecasts for GDP growth in Switzerland and the Nordic economies over the coming years are generally well below consensus. Switzerland is most exposed to the industrial woes in Germany, and we expect …
Overview – Economic growth has slowed to a crawl and is likely to remain anaemic until well into next year, even in the absence of a fresh external shock. Germany is probably in a recession already and we think it will not recover for a long while yet; …
15th October 2019
Overview – The end of the housing downturn has reduced the risk of a recession and we expect GDP growth in Australia to edge up from 1.7% this year to 2.0% in 2020. However, that’s still well below potential and we expect the unemployment rate to climb …
Overview – Regardless of what happens with Brexit between now and 31 st October, the recent weakening in both the global and domestic data has led us to revise down our GDP growth forecasts in all three of our scenarios based on different Brexit outcomes …
14th October 2019
Table of Key Forecasts Overview – Several large emerging markets, including Brazil, Russia and India, should emerge from recent weak patches over the coming quarters. But at an aggregate level, that will be offset by slowdowns elsewhere, most notably in …
11th October 2019
China Overview – China’s economy has remained resilient in recent months. But with the boom in property construction on borrowed time and headwinds from higher food inflation and cooling global demand likely to intensify further, it is hard to see how a …
10th October 2019
Overview – Regional growth is likely to remain very weak, with slower growth in China likely to offset a modest recovery in the rest of the region. China’s economy has remained resilient in recent months. But with the boom in property construction coming …
Overview - We still think that the impact of October’s sales tax hike on consumption will be smaller than after previous tax hikes. But the outlook for external demand remains poor and firms have become less optimistic about the outlook for capital …
9th October 2019
Overview – India’s economy slowed sharply in the first half of the year but, with policy support being stepped up, growth should gradually recover. And despite the recent soft patch for the economy, we remain optimistic about India’s longer-term …
8th October 2019
Overview – Mortgage interest rates recently dropped to three-year lows, but mortgage applications for home purchase are more-or-less unchanged from where they were at the start of the year. A slowing economy, tighter mortgage lending standards and lack of …
4th October 2019
Overview – After a strong second quarter, a sharp deceleration in export growth is set to pull GDP growth down from 1.5% this year to an even further below-potential 1.3% in 2020. We expect signs of slower growth to prompt the Bank of Canada to cut …
3rd October 2019
Overview – After the deepest downturn since the Cultural Revolution in Q1, China’s economy will return to growth this quarter. But with labour market strains holding back domestic demand and external headwinds intensifying, output is still set to contract …
30th September 2019
Overview – We expect GDP growth to slow from 2.3% this year to 1.4% in 2020, before a more favourable post-election policy mix generates a rebound to 2.0% in 2021. Under those circumstances, we anticipate one final 25bp interest rate cut from the Fed in …
26th September 2019
Executive Summary – Our new forecasts reflect Scandinavian prime office yields falling in 2020 and into 2021, on the back of our lower bond yield profile. But retail property in the region faces slight yield rises as risk premia rise. In emerging Europe, …
20th September 2019
This week’s FOMC meeting reinforces our view that many “safe” assets – such as some government bonds and precious metals – will return less than cash in US dollar terms later this year, as central banks in the US and elsewhere fail to ease by more than …
19th September 2019
Overview – With the euro-zone slowdown underway, we think that the ECB will loosen monetary policy before the year is out, meaning bond yields are set to remain negative for some time. As a result, yield compression in the office and industrial sectors …
11th September 2019
Overview – Regardless of the Brexit outcome, we expect all-property returns to be squeezed as a result of weakness in the retail sector. However, as Brexit could dramatically alter the near-term outlook for the economy and UK commercial property, we are …
15th August 2019
The global shift away from risky assets and towards safer ones that seems to be underway will either be exacerbated by a no deal Brexit on 31 st October or cushioned by a deal or a delay. Although a lot of bad news has already been priced into UK gilt …
12th August 2019
The strong performance of both equities and government bonds this year reflects a view that monetary easing will put the global economy back on track very soon – an outlook that seems too benign to us. Central banks around the world are likely to loosen …
1st August 2019
