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Widening of tolerance band has done little to improve market functioning Nomination of less dovish Governor would signal Yield Curve Control is on its way out However, renewed slowdown in inflation will prevent policy rate hikes The widening of the …
11th January 2023
Stubbornly high inflation will prompt further RBA rate hikes While falling job vacancies point to rising unemployment, the resilience in retail sales coupled with stubbornly high inflation will prompt the RBA to press ahead with another 25bp rate hike …
Stubbornly high inflation will prompt further RBA tightening The renewed rise in inflation in November coupled with strong retail sales data will prompt the Reserve Bank of Australia to press ahead with another 25bp rate hike at its February meeting. …
The activity and labour market data imply the economy carried more momentum into 2023 than we expected, but the weakness of temporary employment suggests cracks are showing beneath the surface. The revised preliminary estimate that GDP edged up by 0.1% …
10th January 2023
After a stellar first six months, rising interest rates and a slowing economy brought commercial property returns crashing down in the second half of 2022. All-property total returns are therefore set for their worst year since 2008. And 2023 will not be …
While the shift towards higher taxes and spending after the pandemic appears to be here to stay, there is little to suggest an expanded state would curtail GDP growth. But without supply-side reforms aimed at solving the UK’s fundamental problems of low …
Household spending may have fallen in Q4 already The slowdown in household spending in November largely reflects base effects from the ending of lockdowns in 2021. Even so, the data suggest that household spending may have started to fall last quarter. …
The apparent resilience of employment in December has boosted hopes that the US can avoid a recession, but we still think that is unlikely. Employment is a coincident indicator whereas the only genuine leading indicators in the employment report – …
9th January 2023
Labour’s big lead in the polls raises the question of what difference a Labour government would make to the economic outlook. The answer is probably not much. A tight grip on the public finances is likely by whichever party is in charge. And the …
Mortgage rates have probably now peaked, but they remain at a level that makes further steep falls in house prices and a slump in housing market activity inevitable this year. If anything, the hard data show that the housing market slump has already begun …
Credit growth in China probably remained weak at the end of last year We think US CPI inflation fell further in December (Thu.) We expect rate hikes in Korea and Romania next week Key Market Themes While investors seem to have judged that today’s …
6th January 2023
Financial markets have begun 2023 on a cautious note, see-sawing on mixed data. Although it has dropped back today, the US dollar has started the new year on the front foot, rising against most other major currencies on the week as a whole. That said, …
Our key calls for 2023 highlight major shifts in the outlook for real estate. We expect all-property total returns to be negative for the first time since 2009. At a sector level, we expect retail to do best, ending industrial’s decade of dominance, while …
Although valuation premia in certain parts of the US stock market shrank significantly last year, we think there is still some room for this to continue in the coming decade and weigh on their relative performance. To re-cap, there was a marked reversal …
The resilience of the labour market is a risk to our view that the Bank of Canada will pause its tightening cycle after a final 25 bp hike this month, even as the slump in natural gas prices raises the chance that CPI inflation will fall faster than the …
While we expect mortgage rates will fall to 5.75% by end-2023, affordability will remain stretched. Alongside a weakening economy and falling house prices that will weigh on housing market activity. Indeed, we think 2023 will be the worst year for sales …
The data this week suggested that the weak global backdrop is being compounded by a deterioration in domestic activity, although the labour market still appears to be in good health. Domestic weakness adding to external headwinds The November trade data …
The past few weeks have brought the news that the UK economy is lagging even further behind its G7 counterparts. (See here .) One reason for this relative underperformance is real business investment, which accounts for 9.5% of real GDP and in Q3 was …
Sharp decline illustrates that recession still more likely than soft landing The slump in the ISM services index to a 19-month low of 49.6 in December, from 56.5, is another signal from the surveys that despite the resilience of employment growth, …
Labour market data boost odds of a soft landing The solid 223,000 gain in non-farm payrolls and drop-back in unemployment to a 50-year low in December will, at face value, do little to ease the Fed’s concerns about resilient core services inflation. …
Surge in employment locks in another interest rate hike The surge in employment in December and renewed fall in the unemployment rate suggest that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again later this month, although the fall in wage growth …
Surge in employment locks in another interest rate hike The surge in employment in December and renewed fall in the unemployment rate suggests that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again later this month, although the fall in wage growth means …
Wage growth slowing despite employment resilience The solid 223,000 gain in non-farm payrolls and drop-back in unemployment to a 50-year low in December will, at face value, do little to ease the Fed’s concerns about resilient core services inflation. …
The recent plunge in wholesale gas prices means that utility prices for households may fall below the government’s price freeze in July. As a result, CPI inflation will be around 0.3 percentage points (ppts) lower than we previously thought in the second …
After November’s positive surprise, will December’s CPI report provide more evidence that US inflationary pressures are easing – and what would that mean for the Fed’s policy calculus? Chief US Economist Paul Ashworth and Senior US Economist Andrew …
Headline index falls below 50 as recession hits property demand The headline CIPS construction index fell below 50 in December, indicating a contraction in activity, as the recession hit demand and developers’ concerns about capital values increased. With …
Q4 industry slump won’t prevent GDP rebound We warned in December that the surge in manufacturing inventories in the Tankan signals a sharp downturn in industrial activity. As it happens, industrial production only fell marginally in November. But that …
House price falls already well advanced The further large fall in house prices recorded by Halifax in December suggests that the house price correction is further advanced than we previously thought. Indeed, while the Nationwide figures point to a …
End of China’s zero-Covid to boost travel exports Media reports suggest that China will start to import Australian coal from April. We explained here why the impact on the economy should be modest. A more important development is the end of zero-Covid in …
Wage growth should settle around 1% this year The sharp slowdown in wage growth in November was mostly due to a plunge in volatile bonus payments and wage growth will rebound over the coming months . The slowdown in wage growth in November, from 1.4% to …
Wage growth will settle around 1% The sharp slowdown in wage growth in November was mostly due to a plunge in volatile bonus payments and it will rebound over the coming months. The slowdown in wage growth in November, from 1.4% y/y to 0.5%, was more …
5th January 2023
The 0.3% q/q contraction in Q3 left real GDP 0.8% below its Q4 2019 pre-virus level and the UK economy lagging even further behind its major counterparts. In contrast, GDP has risen above its pre-pandemic level in all G7 economies, including the US …
Euro-zone inflation may have fallen to 9.2% in December (10.00 GMT) We think US non-farm payrolls growth slowed to 160,000 in December (13.30 GMT) The US ISM Services survey will probably point to slowing momentum (15.00 GMT) Key Market Themes Despite …
Strong rental growth and higher mortgage costs will keep shelter inflation elevated for the next few months, but we expect it to fall sharply over the rest of 2023 as lower house prices feed through. Shelter inflation surprised to the upside of our …
Models point to recession soon Our composite models continue to suggest that a recession this year is a near-certainty, with the implied odds of the economy being in recession in six months’ time and in one year’s time both above 90% as of December. …
Trade hit by domestic and external weakness The sharp narrowing of the trade deficit to $61.5bn in November, from $77.8bn, came as a big fall in exports was offset by an even sharper drop in imports. Net trade still looks to have been a small drag on …
Lower commodity prices push goods trade into deficit Lower commodity prices have now wiped out the goods trade surplus, while the falls in export and import volumes present downside risks to the preliminary estimate that GDP edged up in November. The …
Goods trade balance moves back into deficit Lower commodity prices have now wiped out the goods trade surplus, while the falls in export and import volumes present downside risks to the preliminary estimate that GDP edged up in November. The merchandise …
Fed doubling down on hawkish views The minutes of the Fed’s December policy meeting reveal officials in hawkish mood, with participants arguing that “a restrictive policy stance would need to be maintained until the incoming data provided confidence that …
4th January 2023
While our forecast that the economy would slow in 2022 on the back of high inflation and Fed policy tightening was right, like every other forecaster we were surprised by its extent. This threw off our call for further property yield falls in 2022. But we …
The latest JOLTS data suggest that labour market conditions remain quite tight and a lot more adjustment is needed to ensure that the drop back in price inflation to 2% will be sustained. While the job openings rate was unchanged at 6.4% in November, …
Index drops into recessionary territory The decline in the ISM manufacturing index to a two-and-a-half year low of 48.4 in December, from 49.0, is another sign that the economy lost more momentum at the tail-end of last year. Nearly all the survey-based …
Weaker ISM shows activity stalling, but labour market conditions remain tight The decline in the ISM manufacturing index to a two-and-a-half year low of 48.4, from 49.0, is another sign that the economy was losing momentum at the tail-end of last year. …
Lending weak, but no longer falling A second consecutive increase in home purchase applications in December suggests that declining mortgage rates have allowed buyer demand to bottom out. Indeed, as we expect mortgage rates to continue to fall, the …
The nomination of a less dovish candidate to succeed BoJ Governor Kuroda would probably signal that Yield Curve Control will soon be abandoned, though we would still expect the Bank to keep its short-term policy rate at -0.1%. This would result in a …
Net lending rises further despite worsening outlook Net lending to property accelerated in November to an 11-month high. But given the worsening economic and property outlook we expect it will soon go into reverse. Indeed, investment activity is now …
Higher interest rates continue to weigh on the economy November’s money and credit figures showed further signs that higher interest rates are dampening activity, particularly in the housing market. This will be a constant theme over the year ahead, …
Approvals collapse as adjustment to higher rates begins in earnest The impact of the surge in mortgage rates following the “mini” budget on 23 rd September was realised in November as mortgage approvals collapsed. The modest drop back in fixed mortgage …