US Chart Pack Resilience of activity won’t stop inflation falling 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... 23rd May 2023 · 9 mins read
Europe Data Response Resilient services sector keeping growth and price pressures strong The euro-zone Composite PMI fell slightly in May but is still consistent at face value with the economy expanding at a rapid pace in Q2. The survey also suggests that price pressures and the labour... 23rd May 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Update Labour activity and costs appear to be turning 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%... 22nd May 2023 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Australia’s productivity problem persists The latest data suggest that Australia’s productivity will continue to languish in the near term. The resulting surge in unit labour cost growth will keep services inflation stubbornly high... 19th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Update EZ labour supply holding up relatively well The aggregate supply of labour in the euro-zone has recovered comparatively well from the pandemic, albeit with big differences between the major economies. But despite this, the labour market is very... 18th May 2023 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Apr. 2023) The weakness in April’s jobs data suggest that the labour demand is starting to cool. Admittedly, there continue to be some pockets of resilience in the labour market. However, with wage growth... 18th May 2023 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Wage Price Index (Q1) The Q1 wage price index showed that quarterly wage gains were a bit softer than the RBA had anticipated which supports our view that the Bank won’t raise interest rates any further. 17th May 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone GDP & Employment (Q1) The labour market has been remarkably strong so far this year and we think it will continue to hold up much better than the GDP data might suggest in the coming quarters. 16th May 2023 · 2 mins read
UK Data Response Labour Market (Mar./Apr.) The labour market loosened by a bit more than the Bank of England expected in March. That may alleviate some pressure on the Bank to raise rates above 4.50% at the next policy meeting in June. 16th May 2023 · 3 mins read
US Economics Focus A closer look at the Fed’s favourite inflation gauge The resilience of PCE core services ex-housing inflation is only partly due to the strength of labour market conditions, and other factors are likely to play an important role in driving it lower over... 15th May 2023 · 15 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack Housing downturn not over yet Australia’s house prices have rebounded over the last couple of months and most leading indicators suggest that the recovery has legs. However, we doubt that a sustained recovery is on the cards... 15th May 2023 · 11 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly France’s improving labour market There is no sign yet that the remarkable improvement in France’s labour market is going into reverse. But we suspect it will do later this year as monetary policy tightening takes effect. Meanwhile... 12th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Bank of Japan kicking the can down the road Governor Ueda presided over his first policy meeting late last month and opted to keep all monetary policy settings, including Yield Curve Control (YCC), completely unchanged. To be sure, Mr Ueda also... 11th May 2023 · 11 mins read
Japan Data Response Japan Economy Watchers Survey (Apr. 2023) The further rise in both the current and outlook readings point to continued upward momentum in services spending this quarter. Meanwhile, manufacturing conditions fell slightly but remained robust... 11th May 2023 · 2 mins read