Europe Economics Update Italy’s “nonsense output gap” is not the big issue Some commentators have argued that technicalities around estimates of euro-zone countries’ output gaps have led to excessively-tight fiscal policy. While we have some sympathy with this view, in Italy... 13th June 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Should we worry about “mini-BOTs”? The Italian government issuing so-called “mini-BOTs” to pay public sector arrears would fuel speculation about Italy’s future in the euro-zone. It seems unlikely that this will happen over the next... 11th June 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Why Italy cannot escape from its debt trap There is little that Italy’s government can do to prevent its debt ratio from rising. For a number of reasons, not least of which is its membership of the euro-zone, the three paths to debt reduction... 7th June 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Italy’s “fiscal shock” set to cause more problems Italy is on another collision course with the EU that looks set to push bond yields up and weigh on economic activity. 5th June 2019 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Italy may soon be considered riskier than Greece The spread between the yields of 10-year government bonds in Greece and Italy has fallen sharply following the latest European Parliament elections. We now forecast that it will turn negative... 31st May 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Eight quick points about the European elections Projections of the results of the European elections confirm that pro-European parties will continue to have a clear majority in the European Parliament (EP) itself, so little will change at EU level... 27th May 2019 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Divergence in E-Z peripheral bonds likely to continue The yield of 10-year government bonds in Italy has moved in the opposite direction to the yields of 10-year government bonds in Spain and Portugal recently. While we don’t expect that to continue, we... 23rd May 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Bunds rally amid trade tensions and Italian fiscal risks Developments this week suggest that Italy’s government is on another collision course with the European Commission. Meanwhile, the risk of US car tariffs has eased, but it has not disappeared. Finally... 17th May 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Italy is heading for another clash with the EU Recent comments by Italy’s deputy prime minister have increased the risk that Italy is placed in an EU disciplinary procedure later this year. There are a few ways that talks about Italy’s fiscal... 16th May 2019 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Italy This Briefing is a reference guide with our latest views and forecasts for Italy’s economy, including the prospects for key macroeconomic and financial market variables such as gross domestic product... 7th May 2019 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Italian & German equities likely to lag rest of the E-Z We think that euro-zone stock markets will generally fall in the rest of 2019 as global growth remains weak and appetite for risk wanes. Equities in Germany and Italy will fare particularly poorly, in... 12th April 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Returns from Italian assets to underwhelm Driven by falls in capital values, total returns from office and retail assets in Italy are forecast to be at the bottom of the euro-zone pack. Industrial returns will be better, but still just below... 4th April 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response EC Business and Consumer Survey (Mar.) March’s decline in the euro-zone’s Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) adds to the evidence from other surveys that the economy has continued to lose momentum. And there is no sign that either the... 28th March 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Italy at risk of perma-recession Over the next ten years, we think that Italy’s economy will fail to grow because productivity growth will remain weak and total employment will fall. As a consequence, the public debt ratio will... 27th March 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Slowing bank lending to weigh on Italy’s economy Higher government bond yields in Italy have not fed through to increased interest rates on bank loans, and this seems unlikely to happen to any significant degree this year. Nevertheless, Italian... 21st March 2019 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Italy’s recession likely to drag on Italy’s economy is unlikely to come out of recession in the first half of this year. Several temporary factors might lead to a small expansion in the second half of the year, but even if this happens... 5th March 2019 · 1 min read