US Economics Weekly Fed lurching from one extreme to the other The Fed minutes revealed that officials are in a hawkish mood and, after their brief flirtation with the flexible average inflation framework last year, they are now desperate to rapidly recalibrate... 8th April 2022 · 8 mins read
US Housing Market Outlook Apartment Metro Outlook Following a surge last year, rental growth at the national level is set to slow over the next couple of years as demand falls back and affordability constraints bite. Alongside a gradual rise in... 7th April 2022 · 11 mins read
Energy Data Response US Weekly Petroleum Status Report Commercial crude stocks rose last week, beating market expectations of a decline, due to rising domestic production and another sale from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. If sustained, higher... 6th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Bank of Canada Watch A “forceful" 50 bp hike and the start of QT We now anticipate that the Bank of Canada will raise its policy rate by 50 bp next week and announce the start of quantitative tightening. Nonetheless, we remain sceptical of the view priced into... 6th April 2022 · 7 mins read
US Commercial Property Data Response US Metro Employment (Feb.) The jobs recovery continued in February, for both total employment and office-based roles. But the divergence in performance of the last two years is persisting, reinforcing our view that many of the... 6th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Asset Allocation Update US yield curve and equities dancing to different tunes The resilience of the US stock market over the past month or so is hard to square with recent inversions in parts of the US Treasury yield curve. While we do not think that these inversions... 6th April 2022 · 4 mins read
US Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Applications (Mar.) Mortgage rates continue their upward climb in March, reaching a 40-month high of 4.9% by the end of the month. As yet, that has done little to cut home purchase demand. Indeed, applications saw a... 6th April 2022 · 2 mins read
US Data Response International Trade (Feb.) Although the nominal trade deficit was unchanged at $89.2bn in February specifically, the recent weakness of real exports suggests that net trade was a substantial drag on first-quarter GDP growth. 5th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Canada Data Response International Trade (Feb) The goods trade surplus unexpectedly narrowed in February but, with commodity prices rising strongly since then and some of the jump in imports set to be reversed, it will rebound in March. 5th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Canada Data Response Business Outlook & Consumer Expect. Surveys (Q1) The Bank of Canada’s latest quarterly surveys suggest that firms’ and consumers’ long-run inflation expectations remain well anchored, which the Bank could use to justify a slower tightening cycle... 4th April 2022 · 4 mins read
US Economics Weekly Long rates rising but still low, particularly in real terms The inversion of the 10y-2y Treasury yield spread this week led to predictable speculation that the Fed’s interest rate hikes would quickly push the US economy into recession. 1st April 2022 · 7 mins read
US Data Response ISM Manufacturing Index (Mar.) The unexpected decline in the ISM manufacturing index to 57.1 in March, from 58.6, still leaves it at a healthy level and, with other US manufacturing surveys strengthening last month. Nevertheless... 1st April 2022 · 2 mins read
US Data Response Employment Report (Mar.) The 431,000 rise in non-farm payrolls is another sign that the real economy has plenty of momentum, though with those gains now being helped by a stronger rebound in the labour force, there are signs... 1st April 2022 · 2 mins read
Canada Economics Weekly Budget 2022 could make Bank even more “forceful” The strong activity data released this week raise the odds of the Bank of Canada hiking interest rates by a larger 50bp at its meeting later this month, particularly if the government loosens fiscal... 1st April 2022 · 5 mins read
US Commercial Property Outlook Office Metro Outlook (Q1 2022) We expect the best performing office markets over the next five years to be in Southern and Western metros, meaning that almost all the new additions to our forecast this quarter will outperform the... 31st March 2022 · 14 mins read
Canada Data Response GDP by Industry (Jan.) Following the moderate gain in GDP in January, the preliminary estimate of a further 0.8% m/m surge in activity in February will fuel speculation that the Bank of Canada will hike its policy rate by a... 31st March 2022 · 2 mins read