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April 17, 2025 3:47 PM UTC
March’s personal income and spending report will be largely old news by the time of the release, with Q1 totals due with the GDP report 90 minutes earlier. We expect a subdued 0.1% increase in the core PCE price index, a subdued 0.2% rise in personal income, but a strong 0.8% increase in personal
April 17, 2025 2:26 PM UTC
Banxico’s latest minutes confirm a cautious but steady path toward policy normalization, with the policy rate expected to reach neutral levels (7.00–8.00%) in 2025. While the economy shows signs of deceleration and a negative output gap, inflation continues to ease, nearing historical averages.
April 17, 2025 1:48 PM UTC
A seventh and widely expected 25 bp deposit rate cut was overshadowed by the ECB’s communication shift about the outlook hereafter, no longer talking about how restrictive policy may be. This shift is entirely appropriate not least given the manner in which financial conditions are now tightenin
April 17, 2025 8:30 AM UTC
The USD and U.S. Treasuries are currently not acting like safe havens, as the crisis is U.S. centric with the tariff debacle. 10yr Treasuries can regain safe haven status if a U.S. recession occurs, but U.S. equities are still clearly overvalued versus equity and equity-bond metrics. We prefer Ind
April 16, 2025 12:48 PM UTC
March retail sales with a gain of 1.4% is in line with expectations, led by a pre-tariff surge in auto sales. Gains of 0.5% ex auto and 0.8% ex auto and gasoline are on the firm side of expectations, though the control group, which contributes to GDP, was less impressive with a moderate rise of 0.4%
April 16, 2025 8:24 AM UTC
• The March data releases from China alongside the Q1 GDP figures show a good start for 2025. However, underlying domestic demand is soft and Q2 will see a big hit from the U.S. tariffs already introduced. Our baseline (here) remains for a truce in the coming weeks and a scale back of 1
April 15, 2025 11:14 AM UTC
The ECB can draw comfort from signs that credit demand and supply for EZ households continues to improve. But the ECB’s latest bank lending survey (BLS) also offers worrying signs in regard to firms as well as questioning the alleged neutrality of the QT program. It shows a further (admittedly
April 15, 2025 8:30 AM UTC
Overall, foreign equity investors can no longer count on U.S. exceptionalism and could face lower long-term corporate earnings growth, which at a minimum will likely slow net inflows. Bond investors also face ongoing policy volatility, which likely means a need for an extra risk premium – t
April 14, 2025 7:30 AM UTC
The economic hit from a hard stop in U.S. imports/exports is too damaging for both sides and our baseline is still for a truce and de-escalation, in the coming weeks. This could be negotiations on a new trade deal with a more moderate reciprocal tariff on both sides and the extra reciprocal tariffs
April 14, 2025 4:28 AM UTC
With the latest round of "universal" tariff, Japan is being hit again by double digit tariffs despite being the nice ally of the U.S. While we see little change of Japan's retaliation, it is worth looking into the impact towards the Japanese economy as auto export that is hit hard, is one of the maj
April 11, 2025 9:30 AM UTC
Long-dated U.S. Treasury yields were being pushed up by deleveraging among leveraged players, before the 90 days pause on reciprocal tariffs easing deleveraging. Multi quarter the key question for yields is whether real sector data sees a soft or hard landing. We see a slowdown to sub trend growth
April 10, 2025 1:00 PM UTC
March CPI comes as a pleasant surprise, a 0.1% decline overall led by an expected dip in gasoline, but the 0.1% rise ex food and energy is well below consensus and recent trend and suggests the inflationary pressures entering the trade war are lower than was previously thought. Initial claims, up 4k
April 10, 2025 7:29 AM UTC
In a bid to reignite momentum, the Reserve Bank of India trimmed its key policy rate to 6% and adopted an “accommodative” stance, signalling more support could follow. With inflation now forecast at 4.0% and GDP growth projected at 6.5%, Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s forward-looking policy aims t
April 10, 2025 7:17 AM UTC
Pressures to do trade deals include the weaker U.S. economy and higher inflation when it arrives/foreigners becoming nervous of their USD30trn plus holdings of U.S. securities and more crucially risks to Trump and GOP approval ratings from Republican voters. Obstacles to quick trade deals include Tr
April 9, 2025 9:00 AM UTC
The prospect of a trade deal between the U.S. and China are less and likely delayed into 2026, due to the hardline stance of Trump 2.0 due to the extra focus on tariff tax revenue and shifting production back to the U.S. It is still our baseline that a deal will be agreed though we would now see a d
April 9, 2025 8:03 AM UTC
It is surely not a question of whether the ECB cuts rates again at its Apr 17 decision, but what it communicates about policy thereafter. Not least given the manner in which financial conditions have tightened, the then-notable change in rhetoric last month to suggest the policy stance had become
April 8, 2025 9:30 AM UTC
Overall, we are still assessing the effects on non U.S. countries from the tariffs being imposed by the U.S. via direct trade/business investment/currency and financial & monetary conditions swings. The impact will be adverse to GDP, but for some major countries could be less than the U.S. How
April 7, 2025 9:08 AM UTC
• The U.S. equity market still remains under pressure from the announcement effect of large reciprocal tariffs, though hopes of trade deals could start to soon produce a stabilization of the market later this week. Multi month the U.S. equity market outlook depends on whether a recession
April 7, 2025 3:31 AM UTC
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduled to announce its monetary policy decision on April 9, 2025, following a three-day meeting of its MPC. We anticipate a reduction of 25 basis points in the benchmark repo rate, bringing it down from 6.25% to 6%. This prospective cut would constitute the seco
April 4, 2025 1:01 PM UTC
March’s non-farm payroll with a 228k increase is significantly higher than expected but less so net of 48k in downward revisions. The month looks like a bounce from two months restrained by bad weather, and shows a still strong labor market, though unemployment edged up to 4.2% from 4.1% and avera
April 3, 2025 7:56 PM UTC
Mexico has avoided reciprocal tariffs but still faces steel, aluminum, and auto tariffs. Authorities are negotiating to exempt goods, though retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports seem unlikely. Mexico's economy is slowing, with growing recession fears and diminishing nearshoring prospects. The industr
April 3, 2025 4:12 PM UTC
While surprising the market in their intensity, Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs were in line with previous threats on most countries, and with Canada and Mexico being treated less harshly that feared, the net surprise is modest to us. However we do feel that inflationary risks have increased furt
April 3, 2025 2:24 PM UTC
March’s ISM services index of 50.8, down from 53.5, is the weakest since June 2024, and contrasting a healthy S and P services PMI of 54.4. The weakness of the ISM data is however consistent with weak messages from most regional Fed surveys of the service sector.
April 3, 2025 2:22 PM UTC
The Account of the Governing Council meeting on 5-6 March 2025 seemingly dwelt more on the downside risks posted by trade uncertainties than the upside risks posed by fiscal expansion plans across much of the EU. It noted that not all members supported the proposal to lower the three key ECB inter
April 3, 2025 10:24 AM UTC
The U.S is imposing a widespread tariff on the EU of 20%, higher and broader than expected, this based on U.S. calculation of an effective tariff rate of in effect 39 per cent, a figure the EU puts at about 1 per cent. Moreover, rather than including factors such as VAT, and hygiene restrictions o
April 2, 2025 7:05 AM UTC
China grey warfare against Taiwan will continue, but we would only see a 5% probability of China invading Taiwan in 2025 and 2026. The U.S. is pivoting towards Asia and China, while President Trump is not China friendly. A war with the U.S. over Taiwan would be very costly in military and eco
April 1, 2025 9:45 AM UTC
Largely as expected, there was more supportive news in the March flash HICP numbers (Figure 1), with the headline down a notch and core down 0.2 ppt (the former to 2.2% and hence the lowest since last autumn). Perhaps more notably services inflation slowed more clearly, dropping 0.3 ppt to 3.4%, a
March 31, 2025 9:04 AM UTC
Quick dilutions of tariffs or exemption will likely be slow in coming for countries that the U.S. has trade surpluses with, as the Trump administration are currently more focused on tariffs for tax revenue and trying to switch production back to the U.S. than trade deals. Trade policy uncertainty
March 28, 2025 12:58 PM UTC
February’s core PCE price data at 0.4%, 0.365% before rounding) has come in considerably stronger than the 0.2% core CPI though the 2.8% yr/yr pace, with January revised up to 2.7% from 2.6%, is in line with a forecast from Fed’s Powell. Personal income was surprisingly strong with a 0.8% increa
March 27, 2025 2:42 PM UTC
We expect a 0.3% rise in February’s core PCE price index, ahead of a 0.2% core CPI to partially offset a January underperformance when core PCE prices rose by 0.3% while core CPI surged by 0.5%. We also expect a subdued 0.1% rise in personal income to follow a strong 0.9% increase in January but p
March 27, 2025 8:59 AM UTC
The 25% tariffs on cars underlines that tariffs are not just about getting better trade deals, but in Trump’s view raising (tax) revenue and trying to shift production back to the U.S. Combined with other tariffs being implemented, plus policy uncertainty, we see a moderate overall hit from t
March 26, 2025 1:06 PM UTC
February durable goods orders are stronger than expected with a 0.9% rise overall and a 0.7% rise ex transport. This may be a response to strength in January ISM manufacturing orders, but slower ISM data for February suggests the February durable goods orders gain may be difficult to sustain.
March 26, 2025 9:30 AM UTC
· More tariffs will arrive from the U.S. from April with product (car, pharma, semiconductors and lumber) and reciprocal tariffs. President Trump has a 3-part approach to tariffs to raise (tax) revenue; bring production back to the U.S. and get fairer trade deals. This means some of t
March 26, 2025 9:16 AM UTC
EM currencies will be helped by the ongoing USD downtrend against DM currencies, but prospects also depend on relative inflation differentials versus the USD and starting point in terms of valuations. The Brazilian Real (BRL), Mexican Peso (MXN) and Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) should all make modest s
March 26, 2025 9:05 AM UTC
· U.S. trade wars will likely hurt U.S. growth and raise inflation, with only small to modest Fed easing and a 10yr budget bill that will likely be neutral to negative for the economy. With valuations still very high (Figure 1), we see scope for a correction to extend into mid-year th
March 25, 2025 10:51 PM UTC
The Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) raised the policy rate by 100bps to 14.25% amid signs of economic deceleration, including slower growth, job creation, and consumption. The BCB highlighted external uncertainties, such as U.S. trade policy, and domestic challenges with rising inflation. It emphasized
March 25, 2025 1:43 PM UTC
February HICP inflation numbers did deliver better news and broadly and less marginally so after revisions with the headline dropping 0.2 ppt to an as-expected 2.3%. This ended a run of three successive rises and came about despite a rise in food inflation. Regardless, the core also eased 0.1 pp
March 25, 2025 9:30 AM UTC
• 2yr U.S. Treasury yields can step down with cautious Fed easing on a modest/moderate growth slowdown and also if the Fed keeps an easing bias. 10yr U.S. Treasury yields can be helped by this easing and see a move down through 2025. However, the budget deficit will likely be 6.5-7.0%
March 25, 2025 8:51 AM UTC
· Bottom Line: The market had expected the Trump presidency to see further fiscal expansion and consequent tight Fed policy and high US yields. But the combination of less tax cuts than previously expected and more aggressive tariff increases have led to reduced expectations for US grow
March 24, 2025 3:45 PM UTC
• The U.S. economy, consumer spending in particular, ended 2024 looking healthy, but with inflation still above its 2.0% target if well off its highs. The Trump administration’s more aggressive than expected trade war has made a return to the inflation target more difficult and raised dow
March 24, 2025 9:00 AM UTC
We look for 4.5% GDP growth in 2025. Though residential property investment will subtract less from GDP growth, net exports will also be a drag on the economy in 2025 due to the trade war with the U.S. Further fiscal stimulus beyond March’s NPC measures will be required to achieve a 5% GD
March 21, 2025 9:00 AM UTC
It appears that we will get bad news from April 2 on extra tariffs before any good news. Firstly, the announcement effect of tariffs for many countries and extra products will hurt U.S. business and consumer sentiment. Secondly, part of the reason for tariffs is extra tax revenue and to try to s
March 20, 2025 7:49 AM UTC
Bank Indonesia has decided to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 5.75%, reflecting a cautious stance amid the rupiah's depreciation and mixed economic signals. With the rupiah near five-year lows and influenced by external uncertainties, the central bank is balancing the need to support economi
March 19, 2025 10:38 PM UTC
The Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) raised the policy rate by 100 bps to 14.25% and signaled further hikes, likely reaching 15.0% by May, potentially ending the current tightening cycle. The BCB emphasized inflation concerns and strong economic activity, suggesting a hawkish stance. Fiscal policy was n
March 19, 2025 7:26 PM UTC
The Fed do not appear to be in a hurry to cut interest rates, both as economic momentum remains reasonable and as the Fed waits to see how Trump administration policy feedthrough – especially tariffs to inflation. This suggests that the Fed will need to see a weaker economy and we pencil in one 25
March 18, 2025 9:05 AM UTC
· The crucial date for more clarity is the June 24-26 NATO summit. Donald Trump might attend but will ask for more spending. NATO head Rutte’s desire is for above 3% of GDP for NATO countries, but the politics and budget suggest that a 2.5% minimum may only be agreed with Germany