Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Wage Price Index (Q4) The Q4 wage data won’t alter the RBA’s view that inflation isn’t sustainably within its 2-3% target band yet, but we still expect the Bank to start hiking in June as inflation surprises to the upside. 23rd February 2022 · 3 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Post-booster bounce in the spring Services spending jumped to only 3% below its pre-virus level in Q4 2021 despite having begun the quarter on a weak footing with curfews still in place for bars and restaurants across many regions in... 21st February 2022 · 10 mins read
US Chart Pack Better news on inflation is coming The further rise in CPI inflation to 7.5% in January and hawkish comments from Fed officials have seen markets rush to price in a series of aggressive interest rate hikes this year. But recent weeks... 17th February 2022 · 9 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Data Response Australia Labour Market (Jan. 2022) The further rise in Australian employment despite the Omicron outbreak in January highlights the resilience of the Australian labour market and supports our forecast that the RBA will hike rates in... 17th February 2022 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Labour Market (Dec./Jan.) Employment has recouped the falls after the furlough scheme, the unemployment rate has fallen to pre-COVID levels, job vacancies are at a record high and wage growth is rising. That’s a recipe for... 15th February 2022 · 3 mins read
Global Economics Chart Pack Weak start to 2022 won’t deter monetary tightening While data from the past month have been consistent with global economic activity picking up some pace towards the tail end of 2021, timely data point to a weak turn of the year as the Omicron wave... 11th February 2022 · 14 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Border reopening won’t ease labour shortages much The full reopening of the border will prompt more Australians to make holidays overseas. The key point though is that it sends a powerful message that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us, which... 11th February 2022 · 5 mins read
Long Run Economic Outlook Higher inflation to persist and real rates stay negative Recent developments have supported our view that the pandemic will not do much permanent damage to the level of GDP in most countries, especially developed markets. Nonetheless, it will accelerate... 10th February 2022 · 1 hr, 8 mins read
Europe Economics Update Lessons from Europe’s past wage-price spirals While there are limits to the lessons we can draw from the past, Europe’s experiences since World War Two provide some guidance as to the outlook for wages and inflation. They suggest that the recent... 10th February 2022 · 4 mins read
US Economics Update Labour market shortages stabilising The upward revision to household employment and the labour force imply that the labour market recovery has been a little stronger than we previously believed, but measures of slack suggest that labour... 10th February 2022 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Household incomes taking a big hit We estimate that the leap in utility prices and hike in taxes on 1 st April will reduce real household disposable incomes over the next two years by a cumulative £80bn. The resulting 2.0% decline in... 10th February 2022 · 8 mins read
Japan Economics Update Prolonged border closure could lift labour costs With economic activity still depressed by recurrent virus waves, the sharp slowdown in immigration to Japan has yet to put much upwards pressure on wages. However, looking ahead we think some sectors... 9th February 2022 · 2 mins read
Europe Chart Pack Shift in ECB stance poses risks to the bond market Both we and the market are now discounting 100bp of ECB rate hikes by the end of 2023. And given the sequencing set out by Christine Lagarde, it seems likely that net asset purchases will end in Q3... 8th February 2022 · 12 mins read
Japan Data Response Japan Wages & Household Spending (Dec. 2021) Wage growth turned negative in December due to another fall in end-of-year bonus payments, but it should soon bounce back above 1% y/y this year as the labour market tightens and strong corporate... 8th February 2022 · 2 mins read
US Economics Weekly Shortages appear to be stabilising As it turns out, employment gains were much stronger than previously thought over the final few months of last year and the Omicron wave did little to slow the pace of growth in January. With the... 4th February 2022 · 6 mins read
Canada Economics Weekly Omicron disruption already in the rear-view mirror The data releases this week suggest that the Omicron wave was more disruptive than we anticipated, but there are already positive signs that the economy will strongly rebound this month. 4th February 2022 · 5 mins read
