China Chart Pack Recent stimulus has set back domestic rebalancing The consumption share of GDP had edged up in recent years, but that progress has been reversed by the COVID-19 stimulus response, which has focused on boosting investment. The consumption share should... 27th August 2020 · 11 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Lockdown fatigue is making restrictions less effective In Australia, the lockdown in Melbourne in July was of similar intensity to the initial lockdown in April. Even so, retail sales only fell by 2% m/m in Victoria which still left them around 2% above... 27th August 2020 · 11 mins read
Asia Chart Pack Second wave unlikely to completely derail recoveries Having been among the fastest in the world at controlling the initial outbreak, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Korea are all at different stages of a second wave of infections. With new infections in Hong... 26th August 2020 · 14 mins read
UK Economics Update What to make of diverging unemployment rates in the UK and US While the success of the UK’s job furlough scheme has prevented the unemployment rate from rising as far as it has in the US, an increase in UK unemployment has been delayed rather than avoided... 20th August 2020 · 4 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone GDP & Employment (Q2) The preliminary estimate of euro-zone GDP was unchanged in today’s release, but new data showed that the variation between countries was, if anything, larger than previously thought, while there was a... 14th August 2020 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Unemployment to rise in both countries Australian employment rose in July but more timely data suggest it may have started to decline since then. That makes sense given the renewed and tighter lockdown in Melboune. And we expect further... 14th August 2020 · 5 mins read
Europe Economics Update Mounting cost of ST work puts governments in a bind Short-time working has been widely used during the pandemic to stop unemployment soaring. But even with financial help from Brussels, the mounting costs will force the more fiscally constrained... 13th August 2020 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia - Labour Market (Jul.) The pick-up in employment in July is likely to unwind in the coming months as the stricter lockdown in Victoria weighs on the labour market. 13th August 2020 · 2 mins read
UK Data Response Labour Market (Jun./Jul.) The cracks evident in the latest batch of labour market data are likely to soon turn into a chasm with the unemployment rate rising from 3.9% to around 7.0% by mid-2021. 11th August 2020 · 3 mins read
UK Economics Update Number of people on furlough already down by half By July, we think that around 4 million people had already left the government’s job furlough scheme and 5 million remained on the scheme. That fall is faster than we had expected but does not change... 10th August 2020 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Implications of Victoria’s strict lockdown The state of Victoria isn’t getting its virus outbreak under control and imposed draconian restrictions on economic activity this week. These will of course undermine the recovery, but they also mean... 7th August 2020 · 7 mins read
Japan Data Response Labour Cash Earnings & Household Spending (Jun.) Wage growth improved a little in June and household incomes are rebounding now that most furloughed workers are back in work. Meanwhile, the surge “core” household spending in June supports our view... 7th August 2020 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response New Zealand - Labour Market (Q2) The fall in the unemployment rate to 4.0% in Q2 shows that the government’s generous wage subsidy protected many jobs but we suspect that as that comes to an end, unemployment may rise somewhat Q3. 5th August 2020 · 2 mins read
Japan Data Response Labour Market & Industrial Production (Jun.) The sharp drop in the number of furloughed workers and the rise in industrial production in June bodes well for the recovery in economic activity in the second half of the year. But while the... 31st July 2020 · 2 mins read
US Employment Report Preview Labour market recovery slowing We estimate that non-farm payroll employment rose by “only” 1.0 million in July, as the renewed spread of the virus started to weigh on the economy. With employment currently still 15 million below... 30th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response EC Survey (July) & Euro-zone Unemployment (June) The further increase in the EC’s Economic Sentiment Indicator for July echoes the message from other surveys that the recovery continued at the start of Q3. But it tells us little about how far... 30th July 2020 · 2 mins read
