After the US and the UK, it was the euro-zone’s turn to release better-than-expected activity data this week. Admittedly, we learned that German GDP fell by 0.4% q/q rather than 0.2% in Q4. This means the euro-zone economy probably stagnated in Q4 …
24th February 2023
Drop in headline rate unlikely to assuage Copom’s concerns The fall in Brazilian inflation to 5.6% y/y in the first half of this month was driven by lower food inflation and won’t ease policymakers’ concerns about the strength of core inflation. We …
As we noted here , the Riksbank has made a big policy shift in the few weeks since Erik Thedéen took over as Governor. The most concrete changes were to raise its forecast for policy rates and announce the start of outright asset sales, but the Bank has …
Economy much weaker than thought in Q4 The downward revision to German Q4 GDP means the hit to activity at the end of last year was closer to our original expectation. It also suggests a technical recession in Germany during Q4 and Q1 is likely. Today’s …
In the final stretch before Nigeria’s elections on Saturday, we answer key questions about the polls and the economic consequences of the vote. All of our election-related research can be found here . What’s at stake? Nigeria is not only Sub-Saharan …
MPC minutes highlight divergence of views The MPC minutes of the RBI’s policy meeting from earlier this month – in which the pace of tightening slowed to a 25bp hike , taking the repo rate to 6.50% – confirm that there are significant differences of …
Fight over yield ceiling resumes Yield Curve Control (YCC) remains on borrowed time. The 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield has consistently closed above the 0.5% ceiling since Monday last week and this week the Bank has once again had to step …
Over the past week we’ve learned two important pieces of information. First, the housing downturn, which has been the most rapid in Australia’s modern history so far, came to an abrupt halt in February as prices bounced back in Sydney and Melbourne. …
House prices bounced back in February, led by Sydney. While leading indicators point to an improvement in housing market activity, the RBA’s determination to raise interest rates further means that affordability will remain extraordinarily stretched. …
Inflation will fall below 2% by mid-2023 Inflation hit a four-decade high in January and while we still expect inflation to fall below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target by mid-year thanks largely to the government’s energy subsidies, there are now upside …
Commercial crude oil stocks set to rise even further There was another strong rise in commercial crude stocks last week. With little prospect of any upturn in domestic demand anytime soon, commercial stocks should continue to rebound in the coming months. …
23rd February 2023
Starting with Nigeria’s, the 2023 political calendar is studded with elections that could see some major EMs turn away from unorthodox policymaking and towards very different economic futures. But what do the victories of market-friendly leaders really …
Q4 property valuation scores rose from their Q3 troughs, as equity earnings yields fell and property yields all increased. Even so, that left all major sectors still looking overvalued, suggesting yields have further to rise before property looks fairly …
We think the recent outperformance of the US “big-tech” “super-sector” could continue, but not because of the “bargain hunting” that we think has caused it to occur despite higher real Treasury yields . The rise of more than 30bp in the 10-year TIPS yield …
Investors seem to have become more worried about inflation recently, with evidence that the global economy is holding up better than expected suggesting underlying price pressures might prove more persistent than hoped. That’s taken a toll on both “safe” …
We think Japan’s headline CPI inflation rose to a four-decade high in January (23.30 GMT) US income and spending data is likely to show a strong rebound in consumption (13.30 GMT) We expect headline and core US PCE price indices to have risen by 0.5% …
CEE yields continued to rise in Q4, but very strong rental growth prevented all-property capital values from falling for a second successive quarter. (See Chart 1.) This turnaround was driven by retail and industrial performance, while office rents …
Morocco: drought, food, inflation and unrest The effects of another severe drought in Morocco have weighed on growth, pushed up inflation and fuelled pockets of unrest, but strong rainfall provides hope that the worst may soon be over. The drought that …
Stronger-than-expected data out of the US have pushed up US yields more than elsewhere and drove the greenback higher against most currencies for the first time since its cyclical peak in October of last year. While US economic resilience may keep the …
The recent resilience of economic activity has left us comfortable with our view that the Bank of England will raise interest rates from 4.00% now to a peak of 4.50%, rather than to 4.25% as analysts expect, and keep rates at that higher level all year. …
Last week’s European Court of Justice (ECJ) opinion on Poland’s Swiss franc mortgage dispute dealt yet another blow to Poland’s banking sector and will expose those banks with large FX loan portfolios. The sector as a whole looks strong, but many banks …
Further rise in services inflation will keep Banxico in hawkish mood Mexico’s headline inflation rate edged down to 7.8% y/y in the first half of February but the further pick-up in services inflation will continue to concern policymakers at Banxico. We …
Falls in exports from Korea and Taiwan have weighed on corporate earnings in these economies, but even if that continues for a while we think their equities will hold up fairly well. Evidence has grown recently of a divergence between the health of the …
CBRT eases policy after earthquakes hit Turkey’s central bank (CBRT) lowered its key policy rate by 50bp, to 8.50%, today as policymakers sought to support the economy in the wake of the devastating earthquakes this month. Another rate cut in March looks …
The surprise upward revision to euro-zone core inflation in January, to a new record high, will embolden the majority of ECB policymakers who want to press on with significant further rate hikes. The upward revision to January’s euro-zone headline …
After a stellar performance for most of 2022, the Gulf economies are slowing. Primarily, that has reflected the impact of oil production cuts agreed with the rest of OPEC+ which is weighing on growth in oil sectors. And in the UAE and Qatar at least, the …
Higher interest rates have begun to reduce the size of mortgage that buyers take out. As two-thirds of buyers rely on a mortgage, that will decrease most buyers’ budgets and put further downward pressure on house prices. The average mortgage rate on …
Upward momentum in food inflation appears spent Inflation hit a four-decade high in January but due to stalling food inflation and the government's energy subsidies, we expect it to fall below the Bank of Japan's 2.0% target by mid-year. Headline …
The Bank of Korea today left interest rates unchanged (3.5%), but appeared to leave open the door to further hikes later in the year. However, with the economy struggling badly and inflationary pressures set to ease further over the coming months, we …
Investment prospects remain weak despite Q4 jump Private investment picked up firmly last quarter and although firms expect capital spending to remain relatively healthy, their projections are consistent with a slowdown in real terms this financial year. …
Cuts coming sooner than consensus expects The Bank of Korea today left interest rates unchanged (3.5%), bringing an end to the country’s tightening cycle. With the economy struggling badly and inflationary pressures set to ease further over the coming …
Fed relatively dovish, but Feb announcement pre-dates run of stronger data The minutes of the Fed’s late-January/early February FOMC policy meeting look relatively dovish, but that is mostly because that meeting pre-dated the run of incredibly strong …
22nd February 2023
We don’t think that the election in Nigeria on Saturday will lead to a sudden improvement in crude oil production. The oil industry’s challenges in the country are too deep-seated. But the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill, passed in 2021, could at …
Data for the fourth quarter showed a widespread deterioration in occupier demand in all three sectors. This was worst in some of the big six and West coast metros, with markets like Phoenix, Portland and San Jose joining San Francisco and Chicago in …
The January CPI data provided mixed signals about developments in underlying inflation. The CPI excluding food and energy and the CPI excluding the eight most volatile components each rose by just 0.1% m/m, which were the lowest gains since early 2021. …
Figures released today highlight the dreadful demographic outlook facing Korea, with the population (excluding migrants) falling for a third year in a row. Poor demographics are the key reason why we expect trend growth in Korea to continue slowing over …
The latest data suggest that current account deficits in the region’s major economies narrowed towards the end of last year, which is particularly good news for Colombia and Chile. Both were running alarmingly large shortfalls last year which helps to …
The war in Ukraine. Ageing populations. Rising temperatures. Investors are having to grapple with a formidable range of uncertainties around the long-term outlook for the global economy and markets. Their challenge is compounded by the fracturing of the …
Turkey’s central bank will probably cut its policy rate by 100bp (11.00 GMT) We think Mexico’s CPI edged down to 7.6% in the first half of February (12.00 GMT) We expect policymakers in Korea to keep interest rates on hold Key Market Themes We doubt …
In today’s budget speech, South Africa’s finance minister tried (largely successfully) to pull off the difficult task of sticking to fiscal prudence while partly relieving the struggling state-owned electricity company, Eskom, of its debt burden. But with …
There is mounting evidence that households’ pandemic savings will no longer be able to support real spending. That implies from now on, real consumer spending will have to evolve in line with real incomes. The conventional wisdom is that households and …
We expect the wheat price to remain high this year as events in Ukraine and drought in other key producers hurt supply. Although the wheat price should drop back after this, the worsening impacts of climate change will put prices back on an upward trend …
While it is in America’s strategic interests to build stronger economic ties with allies to counter China’s growth, its protectionist tendencies could undermine those goals and blunt the effectiveness of its interventionist foreign policy. Our work on …
The first year of the war in Ukraine has had an enormous impact on the country’s economy and left it highly dependent on financing from allies. Russia’s economy has contracted too, but it weathered the impact of Western sanctions better than expected and …
German inflation mystery continues The final release of German HICP for January confirmed that the headline rate fell but, disappointingly, still didn’t reveal what happened to the core rate. That said, there was some evidence that underlying price …
Growth picks up in Q4, but likely to remain weak whoever wins the election Nigeria’s economy recorded a surprisingly large pick-up in GDP growth, to 3.5% y/y, in Q4 but recent disruptions caused by the demonetisation process are likely to have dampened …
Global steel output remained depressed in January and is unlikely to pick up markedly in the coming months. However, a rebound in China’s demand and lower power costs in Europe should prompt some recovery in supply later in the year. The World Steel …
The sharp fall in European electricity prices sets the stage for a recovery in metals output across the region. As power prices are still historically high and unlikely to fall that much further, however, the potential for a full and rapid recovery is …
The war in Ukraine, which marks its one year anniversary on Friday, has had a profound impact on the emerging world. Ukraine’s economy has collapsed, while Russia’s has contracted too even though the imposition of sanctions has not been as severe as …
Further improvement, but headwinds still strong The further rise in the Ifo in February confirms that the German economy may have been a bit more resilient than we had expected in Q1. But with the index still in recessionary territory and the drag from …
