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Chief Europe Economist Andrew Kenningham and colleagues from the Europe team were online shortly after the May HICP release to talk through the latest inflation numbers and their implications for policy. During this 20-minute online session, Andrew and …
26th May 2023
Improved outlook for retailers, but higher interest rates to restrain spending The 0.5% m/m rise in retail sales volumes in April suggests that higher interest rates are not yet taking a toll on spending. While the worst of the declines in retail sales …
Improving outlook for retailers, but higher interest rates to weigh on spending before long The 0.5% m/m rise in retail sales volumes in April was better than we expected (consensus +0.2%, CE -0.5%) and reversed some of the 1.2% m/m fall in March (revised …
Inflationary pressures broadening even further We’ve been highlighting the increasingly broad-based nature of price pressures in Japan and there’s been no let-up. All three underlying measures of inflation published by the Bank of Japan increased in …
Underlying price pressures moderating The final default market offer prices announced by the Australian Energy Regulator this week were a touch higher in New South Wales than the draft unveiled in March. However, the Victorian energy regulator announced a …
Sluggish consumption adds to case for RBA pause Coupled with rising unemployment and lukewarm wage growth , the weakness in retail sales in April supports our view that the Reserve Bank of Australia is done hiking interest rates . Retail sales values were …
Weak consumption adds to case for RBA pause The weakness in retail sales in April supports our view that the Reserve Bank of Australia is done hiking interest rates. Retail sales values were unchanged last month, a weaker result than the analyst consensus …
Inflation to fall below 3.0% by year-end Tokyo headline inflation fell to 3.2% in May largely due to a sharp fall in energy inflation, but inflation excluding fresh food and energy ticked up due to faster gains in “core” goods prices. We still expect a …
Inflation has just a bit more to climb Headline inflation in Tokyo fell from 3.5% to 3.2% in May, largely due to a sharp 8.2% fall in energy inflation, which took away almost 0.5%-pts from headline inflation. The drop shows that lower energy import prices …
We think UK retail sales contracted again last month (07.00 BST) US real consumption and durable goods orders probably picked up in April (13.30 BST) Meanwhile, we think US core PCE inflation rose by another 0.3% m/m (13.30 BST) Key Market Themes Higher …
25th May 2023
While it is a hot political potato, well targeted migration could be one part of the solution to the UK’s labour shortages problem. That could help inflation and interest rates be lower than otherwise. Net migration of 606,000 in the year to December 2022 …
The debt ceiling stand-off will probably now drag on into early June, setting up the prospect of a near-default before a bipartisan bill is finally passed by Congress, possibly only after a more serious bout of market turmoil. The risk of a formal debt …
We estimate that employment growth continued to trend gradually lower in May with a 200,000 rise in non-farm payrolls. Although the unemployment rate remains exceptionally low, the report should also bring further evidence that wage growth is easing. Jobs …
The increase in mortgage rates has been the main determinant of the size of house price falls in developed market economies. Very tight supply in the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, has also supported prices in those markets. Employment, incomes, …
Germany in recession and outlook poor The downward revision to Germany’s Q1 GDP means that the country has fallen into a technical recession and that euro-zone GDP probably stagnated in Q1 rather than expanding by 0.1% q/q. We expect further economic …
Some officials looking to resume rate hikes The minutes of the early May FOMC meeting reveal that although Fed officials agreed “the extent to which additional increases in the target range may be appropriate after this meeting had become less certain”, …
24th May 2023
Metro level data for Q1 2023 showed the slowdown in occupier demand was widespread, with no market consistently outperforming across the sectors in terms of absorption. While office and industrial asking rents continued to grow, they did so at a slower …
We think Turkey’s central bank will keep its policy rate at 8.5%... (12.00 BST) … while policymakers in South Africa will deliver a 50bp rate hike, to 8.25% (14.00 BST) Clients can sign up here for tomorrow’s Drop-In on China’s economic outlook Key …
The turnaround in the housing market, with sales and prices rebounding in April, has raised hopes that construction will hold up despite elevated borrowing costs. Media reports suggest that buyer enquiries for pre-construction projects have rebounded, …
The most troubling aspect of April’s inflation data, released earlier today, was evidence that price pressures are becoming increasingly domestically generated. Accordingly, we now expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates further than we …
Opposing messages from Ifo and PMIs Contradictory messages from the Ifo – which was very weak in May – and the Composite PMI mean the performance of the German economy in Q2 is uncertain. But regardless of how well the economy held up this quarter, we …
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of this year’s rally in US equities is just how narrow it has been. We think history suggests that this bodes poorly for the S&P 500’s prospects over the rest of this year. While the S&P 500 has returned ~9% in the year …
Opposing messages from Ifo and PMIs Contradictory messages from the Ifo – which was very weak in May – and the Composite PMI mean the performance of the German economy in Q2 is very uncertain . But regardless of how well the economy held up this quarter, …
BoE will need to work harder to conquer inflation Note: We’ll be discussing the UK April CPI report in a briefing at 10:00 BST/17:00 SGT on 24 th May. Register here. The Bank of England won’t be able to ignore the smaller-than-expected fall in CPI …
Resurgence in core inflation means BoE to keep its foot on the interest rate brake Note: We’ll be discussing the UK April CPI report in a briefing at 10:00 BST/17:00 SGT on 24 th May. Register here. The smaller-than-expected fall in CPI inflation from …
The decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to lift its official cash rate by 25bp, to 5.50%, was in line with what most had anticipated. However, with the Bank sounding more dovish than it has in the recent past, we think its hiking cycle is now …
RBNZ signals tightening cycle is at an end The RBNZ slowed the pace of tightening this month, while signalling that its tightening cycle was at a close. The Bank’s decision to hike its official cash rate by 25bp, to 5.50%, was correctly predicted by 20 …
The resilience of the April activity data and apparent stabilisation in housing have raised hopes that a recession may yet be avoided this year. That said, forward-looking indicators suggest that the huge rise in interest rates and tightening of bank …
23rd May 2023
May’s PMIs suggest that activity in advanced economies has continued to hold up well amid a strong rebound in the service sector. Meanwhile, weak demand for manufactured goods is weighing heavily on the outlook for industry. And although this means that …
Note: We’ll be discussing the UK April CPI report in a briefing at 10:00 BST/17:00 SGT on 24 th May. Register here. Stronger activity supporting domestic price pressures May’s PMIs suggest that economic growth is being supported by the services sector …
The rebound in global auto production and sales over the past year has been partly responsible for the better-than-expected activity data over the past several months. And with auto sales in most advanced economies still well below pre-virus levels, there …
Stronger activity supporting price pressures May’s PMIs suggest that the economy is being supported by the services sector while manufacturing activity continues to struggle. The strength in services activity may be feeding into more persistent domestic …
UK Drop-In (24th May): Join our UK team for a 20-minute online briefing on the implications of April’s CPI inflation release at 10:00 BST on Wednesday, 24th May. Register Now . Shaky start to the new fiscal year won’t prevent pre-election splurge April’s …
Shaky start to the new fiscal year April’s public finances figures got the new fiscal year off to a shaky start. But we doubt this will prevent the Chancellor from embarking on a fiscal splurge ahead of the next election, due to take place before January …
As in other advanced economies, Australia’s neutral rate of interest rate will probably edge up a bit over the coming decades. That will result in higher borrowing costs, but Australia’s low public debt levels mean that the government will be able to …
PMIs suggest economy strengthened further in May May’s flash PMI readings were the strongest they’d been in a while and point to gains in both industrial production and services spending, supporting our assessment that the economy continued to grow in Q2. …
National GDP data released so far suggest that euro-zone exports rose in Q1. However we suspect they will be more subdued in the coming quarters as a result of weak global growth. We have recently investigated the reasons behind the strength of euro-zone …
22nd May 2023
More convincing evidence of a loosening in the labour market and an easing in labour costs growth has started to emerge. It may not prevent the Bank of England from raising interest rate above 4.50%. But it does tentatively support our view that the peak …
Most of the recent acceleration in services inflation reflects pass-through of higher goods prices. While firms have become more willing to pass on higher input costs, we still think that sluggish wage growth and the recent slump in import prices means …
Business investment in for a tough H2 We already know that business investment rose despite a plunge in capital goods shipments last quarter . As such, we wouldn’t read too much into the fall in machinery orders in March. The bigger picture is that as …
Business investment likely off to a slow start this quarter We already know that business investment rose last quarter. As such, we wouldn’t read too much into the fall in machinery orders in March. Machine tool orders data point to a slight fall in …
The economy has been relatively resilient so far, but with the banking turmoil set to weigh on activity, we continue to expect a recession this year. Slower growth has already translated to softer occupier demand across all property sectors. This will …
19th May 2023
We think China’s Loan Prime Rate will be left unchanged (Mon.) We expect the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to raise its policy rate by 25bp, to 5.50% (Wed.) Real consumption in the US probably rebounded a bit in April (Fri.) Key Market Themes We suspect a …
The Bank of Canada’s latest Financial System Review reiterated the risks to households from higher interest rates, but concluded that most are coping well. Following the rapid turnaround in the housing market and upside surprise to CPI inflation in April, …
The UK economy’s underperformance and higher and longer lasting inflation problem has earned it the unenviable title of “stagflation nation”. (See here and our podcast : “What’s wrong with the UK economy and what will it take to fix it”?) And speculation …
Recent solid activity data and the apparent progress on debt ceiling negotiations appear to have convinced some Fed officials that it is still too early to pause interest rate hikes. We still aren’t convinced the Fed will hike again in June, but there is …
The larger than anticipated rebound in mortgage approvals in March and a slowdown (or even partial reversal) of house price falls suggested that the housing market downturn may have ended much earlier than we anticipated. The unwinding of some of the …
Weakness mainly due to lower vehicle sales The fall in retail sales in March was driven mainly by lower vehicle sales. Overall sales volumes still rose by 4.9% annualised last quarter, suggesting that a pick-up in consumption supported GDP growth, but the …
Sweden inflation surprise As of this week, coverage of Switzerland and the Nordic economies will be incorporated, along with the euro-zone, in our expanded Europe Economics service. We will continue to analyse the economic data from the Nordics and …
