Europe Data Response Euro-zone Retail Sales (Jan.) January’s rise in euro-zone retail sales was not enough to offset December’s fall. And the low levels of household confidence suggest that consumption will decline in the coming months. 6th March 2023 · 2 mins read
Global Markets Update Two points on “higher for longer” and asset markets With much of the global economy holding up surprisingly well and inflation not coming down as quickly as expected, investors are weighing up the risk that policy rates remain elevated for much longer... 3rd March 2023 · 5 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly QT launched, France flatlining? The latest data suggest that France’s economy is performing a little better than Germany’s and may even avoid recession, at least in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, we expect to learn next... 3rd March 2023 · 8 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Final PMIs (Feb.) February’s final Composite PMIs suggests that economic activity in the euro-zone has been fairly resilient in February, with the indices for Spain and Italy, and for the services sector, particularly... 3rd March 2023 · 2 mins read
Capital Daily Three points on the latest rise in government bond yields Stronger-than-expected inflation and activity data have fuelled a further rebound in developed market (DM) government bond yields, posing upside risks to our policy rate forecasts. Even so, we think... 2nd March 2023 · 6 mins read
Europe Commercial Property Update Property returns to revive over the longer term The current economic downturn will mean that short-to-medium term property performance is under-par. But over a longer horizon, we expect real estate returns to reassert their traditional position... 2nd March 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Economics Update ECB account consistent with high-for-longer The account of the ECB’s last meeting is consistent with our view that the ECB will raise its deposit rate to 3.0% a fortnight today and continue hiking beyond that. In light of the data released... 2nd March 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash HICP (Feb.) February’s increase in core inflation will reinforce ECB policymakers’ conviction that significant rate increases are needed. For some time we have been forecasting a 50bp hike at the meeting in two... 2nd March 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Germany Flash Inflation (February) The renewed rise in headline inflation in Germany, France and Spain in February suggests euro-zone inflation edged up this month, rather than falling as had been expected. With signs that underlying... 1st March 2023 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Pandemic savings won’t rescue the economy The value of savings that households built up during the pandemic has been wiped out by inflation. Rising interest rates, together with a desire to rebuild the spending power of their savings, suggest... 28th February 2023 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response EC Survey (Feb.) The stabilisation of the EC’s economic sentiment indicator in February contrasts with the significant increases in the PMIs and provides some support for our view that the economy will struggle this... 27th February 2023 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Money and lending data point to recession The effects of tighter monetary policy are clear in the money and credit data. Households and firms have continued to lock their money up in longer-term deposits which are less likely to be spent, and... 27th February 2023 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Q1 resilience, ECB losses The latest survey data for February suggest that the euro-zone economy is holding up better than we expected in Q1. However, a contraction is still well within the realm of possibility. Meanwhile, we... 24th February 2023 · 9 mins read
Europe Data Response German GDP (Q4 2022, second estimate) The downward revision to German Q4 GDP means the hit to activity at the end of last year was closer to our original expectation. It also suggests a technical recession in Germany during Q4 and Q1 is... 24th February 2023 · 2 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Final HICP (January) The surprise upward revision to euro-zone core inflation in January, to a new record high, will embolden the majority of ECB policymakers who want to press on with significant further rate hikes. 23rd February 2023 · 2 mins read