Japan Data Response Small Business Confidence (Feb.) While small business confidence weakened slightly in February, the survey has not been a good to activity lately. We would highlight that firms continue to report pronounced staff shortages while... 28th February 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Brexit Watch: Net migration from the EU falls after Brexit vote There have been growing signs that some EU nationals are reacting to the vote to leave the EU by either returning to their country of citizenship or by obtaining residency rights in the UK. Meanwhile... 24th February 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update “Macronomics” could put France on the right track French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron last night confirmed that he intends to cut overall government spending, boost public investment and overhaul the labour market. These are all long... 24th February 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Euro-zone PMIs consistent with stronger growth Last week’s PMI survey brought some more good news for the euro-zone economy. Accordingly, due to expectations of stronger growth in Q1, we have revised up our GDP forecast for 2017. While the survey... 24th February 2017 · 1 min read
US Chart Pack Rebound in inflation gives Fed less wiggle room The rise in CPI inflation to a five-year high of 2.5% in January was principally due to a surge in gasoline prices, which appears to have been partly reversed in February. Nevertheless, with headline... 22nd February 2017 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Data Response Norwegian Labour Force Survey (Dec.) December’s sharp decline in Norway’s unemployment rate was not as encouraging as it first appears. And while surveys suggest that employment growth will pick up, we suspect that wage growth will... 22nd February 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Overshoot in business confidence The notable improvement in a number of leading activity indicators in the past month or so is consistent with a sizeable pick-up in GDP growth in Australia. But we remain cautious about the prospects... 22nd February 2017 · 1 min read
Japan Data Response Flash Manufacturing PMI (Feb.) The manufacturing PMI in February was the highest it has been since 2014’s sales tax hike and suggests that activity in the sector continued to expand at a strong pace this quarter. What’s more, the... 21st February 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly EC’s optimistic forecasts underestimate key risks In its latest economic forecasts published last week, the European Commission (EC) provided a fairly upbeat outlook for the euro-zone economy, expecting it to sustain its current pace of growth in... 17th February 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Can wage growth keep up with rising inflation? Last week’s labour market and inflation figures have fueled concerns that the impact of rising inflation on real earnings will cause a significant slowdown in consumer spending growth. Indeed, rising... 17th February 2017 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Immigration easing labour shortages Immigration to Japan is starting to make a meaningful difference in its labour market: the number of foreign workers rose by nearly 20% last year. With Japanese people more accepting of immigration... 17th February 2017 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Jan.) January’s labour market figures highlight that jobs growth has sustained its recent momentum, but the now-familiar problem of the new jobs being mostly part-time ones rather than full-time ones also... 16th February 2017 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Data Response Employment (Dec.) Today’s data show that the labour market is holding up well. That said, with employee numbers flat, occupier demand looks set to be steady rather than resurgent. 15th February 2017 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Labour Market (Dec./Jan.) The latest data suggest that while the labour market has lost some momentum recently, it has held up fairly well in the face of Brexit uncertainty. However, real wage growth has started to become... 15th February 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economic Outlook Coping with higher inflation Growth in household spending is likely to slow over the next few years as inflation rises and dampens growth in real incomes. But loose credit conditions and relatively upbeat sentiment by past... 14th February 2017 · 1 min read
Japan Data Response GDP (Q4 Preliminary) Growth was not fast enough last quarter to reduce spare capacity any further, but the current level of the output gap remains consistent with stronger price pressures. The upshot is that monetary... 13th February 2017 · 1 min read
