US Economics Weekly Data dependence spells the end for Fed tightening This week’s FOMC meeting brought hints that Fed officials are no longer wedded to previous plans for further policy tightening. Even if activity growth continues to hold up a bit better than expected... 28th July 2023 · 7 mins read
Canada Economics Weekly September hike requires upside surprise The Bank of Canada’s Summary of Deliberations highlighted the Bank’s concern that inflation could become stuck above the 2% target. Although headline inflation faces a bumpy downward path over the... 28th July 2023 · 5 mins read
US Rapid Response Personal Inc. & Spend. (Jun.), Employment Cost Index (Q2) The slowdown in both the employment cost index of wage growth and core PCE inflation to their lowest levels in nearly two years suggests that resilient activity growth won’t be enough to convince Fed... 28th July 2023 · 2 mins read
Canada Rapid Response Canada GDP (May) Despite the rebound in GDP in May, growth in the second quarter looks set to be weaker than expected. With some of the factors supporting GDP set to unwind, third-quarter growth is also likely to come... 28th July 2023 · 2 mins read
US Commercial Property Update RICS Commercial Market Survey (Q2) The latest RICS survey signalled a slight improvement in occupier and investment sentiment in Q2, but confidence remained low by historic standards. Tight credit conditions and a poor economic... 27th July 2023 · 5 mins read
US Employment Report Preview Employment & wage growth continue to slow We expect the July employment report to show a continued gradual slowdown in employment growth and a decline in wage growth to a two-year low. That should give Fed officials a little more confidence... 27th July 2023 · 3 mins read
US Rapid Response GDP (Q2) The 2.4% annualised gain in second-quarter real GDP growth, which means the economy expanded at close to its potential pace over the first half of the year, suggests that higher interest rates are... 27th July 2023 · 2 mins read
US Economics Update Fed tightening cycle done As everyone expected, the Fed increased its policy rate by an additional 25bp today, taking the fed funds target range to between 5.25% and 5.50% but, while officials are possibly still eyeing one... 26th July 2023 · 3 mins read
Asset Allocation Update Are AI equity valuations justified? The sky-high valuations of some touted winners from AI have given rise to claims that their share prices have risen to unsustainably high levels. Is there anything we can learn from the dot com era? 26th July 2023 · 5 mins read
US Commercial Property Update NCREIF Property Index (Q2 2023) Total returns were negative again in Q2 at -2.0% q/q. This was dragged down by the office sector, where values fell by 7% and quarterly returns were -5.8%, with all other sectors outperforming the all... 26th July 2023 · 4 mins read
US Economics Update Rising disability not a drag on labour supply The sharp rise in the share of the population with a disability may reflect the legacy of the pandemic. But with the rise in disability rates doing little to keep people out of work, it isn’t... 25th July 2023 · 3 mins read
US Housing Market Rapid Response Case-Shiller/FHFA House Prices (May.) House prices rose for the fourth consecutive month in May according to Case-Shiller. The resurgence in prices has coincided with an uptick in home sales from February to May, in turn driven by a... 25th July 2023 · 2 mins read
Canada Chart Pack Canada Chart Pack (Jul. 2023) Strong immigration and the turnaround in the housing market raise the chance that the economy will avoid recession but, with the Bank of Canada back in hiking mode, we still judge that GDP will... 24th July 2023 · 1 min read
FX Markets Weekly Wrap Dollar bounces back; disinflation points to sterling peak The US dollar has rebounded over the past two days and looks set to unwind much of last week’s fall. With US data somewhat mixed, much of this rebound in the greenback seems to have been driven by a... 21st July 2023 · 7 mins read
Canada Economics Weekly Inflation back at 2.0%, at least by one measure Headline inflation fell to 2.8% in June and, excluding mortgage interest costs, was in line with the 2.0% target. While the Bank’s preferred core measures are still higher, the weakness of retail... 21st July 2023 · 5 mins read