EZ HICP Review: Services Inflation Still Resilient But Core Goods Soften Further

January 7, 2026 10:44 AM UTC

HICP inflation has been range bound for the last 5-6 months between 2.0% and 2.2% with the November and October numbers in the middle of that range. And it stayed in that range falling to 2.0% in the December flash numbers, albeit where adverse rounding pre vented a fall to 1.9%.  We see this as th

December 18, 2025 8:46 PM UTC

We expect December’s non-farm payroll to rise by 75k both overall and in the private sector, up from 64k and 69k respectively in November. We expect unemployment to be unchanged at 4.6% and a modest 0.3% increase in average hourly earnings.

U.S. November CPI - Is the tariff impact fading?

December 18, 2025 2:10 PM UTC

November’s CPI is significantly lower than expected, at 2.7% yr/yr, 2.6% ex food and energy, compared with 3.0% for both series in September (October data will not be released). November’s core CPI index is up only 0.16% from September’s, implying an average rise of less than 0.1% per month ov

UK GDP Review: Underlying and Headline Economy Negative, Fragile and Listless

December 12, 2025 7:47 AM UTC

As we have underlined, GDP has hardly moved since March and this became even clearer with the October GDP release, the question being whether weakness is getting more discernible and significant.  Indeed, it has fallen in three of the last four months (Figure 1), and where the unexpected further 0.

Eurozone Outlook: Running to Keep Fiscally Still?

December 11, 2025 10:09 AM UTC

·       Amid what may still be tightening financial conditions and likely protracted trade uncertainty, we retain our below consensus activity forecast for 2026 but see a fiscally driven pick-up into 2027. However, the picture this year appears to be slightly better but the economy has actual

Outlook Overview: Turbulent Times

December 17, 2025 7:44 AM UTC

·        The U.S. slowdown remains in focus as the lagged effects of President Trump’s tariff increases continues to feedthrough, though our baseline is for a 2026 soft-landing.  The Supreme court will likely rule against part of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which will create short-term

Venezuela: Oil and Geopolitics

January 5, 2026 12:02 PM UTC

·       Venezuela’s oil production will likely take years to increase substantively due to poor infrastructure, the need for substantive investment, and a lack of democratic political stability.  In terms of geopolitics, operations in Venezuela reinforce the Trump administration’s pivot

Preview: Due December 16 - U.S. October/November Employment (Non-Farm Payrolls) - Slow but still positive in the private sector

December 15, 2025 3:25 PM UTC

The Labor Department will release October and November non-farm payroll data on December 16. We expect November to see gains of 40k both overall and in the private sector. However we expect October to see a decline of 10k overall but a 55k increase in the private sector.

December 11, 2025 9:39 AM UTC

Although the tone of the economic outlook was a little perkier, the latest SNB analysis saw no real change.  Policy was unchanged, as widely expected, with little shift in the forecast fir either growth or inflation.  Overall it sees medium-term inflation at 0.6% (Figure 1), this despite a gloomy

Bessent: New Fed Inflation Range and Dropping Dots?

January 2, 2026 11:30 AM UTC

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent over the Christmas period suggested that the Fed should shift to targeting an inflation range and drop the quarterly dots.  What impact would this have? Such a change would give the Fed more flexibility on the margin, but not significant.  This could make communicat

January 7, 2026 8:05 AM UTC

·       Trump will likely go for more pressure and then seek to negotiate with Denmark and Greenland.  Denmark and Greenland already have mutual interests with the U.S. on security; minerals and Russia/China that are already covered by previous agreements and understandings.  Trump would li

German HICP Review: Headline and Core Down Afresh

January 6, 2026 4:25 PM UTC

Germany’s disinflation process resumed with a bang as December saw a larger-than-expected fall in both headline and core inflation.  Indeed, the headline HICP fell 0.6 ppt to a five-month low of 2.0%.  This was largely food and energy driven but still with some fall in core at least according to

U.S. Q3 GDP: Better Than Expected, But

December 23, 2025 1:54 PM UTC

Q3 GDP came in better than expected due to a big net export contribution to growth.  Gross domestic purchases at 2.7% were more in line with expectations, with mixed performance in key expenditure sectors.  We see growth slowing in Q4, with net exports unlikely to repeat the Q3 outcome and consume

UK CPI Review: Down More Than Expected from Likely Peak?

December 17, 2025 7:38 AM UTC

A clear downside surprise adds to the wealth of data suggesting a reining of price and cost pressures.  This November result makes it more likely that the September CPI outcome will prove to be the CPI inflation peak.  Indeed, although October figure fell a little less than the consensus by 0.2 pp

UK Labor Market: Job Losses Weighing Even More Clearly on Wages

December 16, 2025 8:06 AM UTC

Adding to the array if weak activity updates of late, there are increasing signs that the labor market is haemorrhaging jobs more clearly and broadly with fresh and deeper falls in the more authoritative measure of jobs covering payrolls.  Indeed, private sector payrolls are still falling, down alm

UK GDP Preview (Jan 15): Underlying and Headline Economy Fragility Continues?

January 8, 2026 11:13 AM UTC

As we have underlined, UK GDP has hardly moved since March and this became even clearer with the last (October) GDP release, the question being whether weakness is getting more discernible and significant.  Indeed, it has fallen in three of the last four months of data (Figure 1) and where we see n

Trump’s Peace Framework as a Path to a Late 2026 Settlement?

December 23, 2025 1:48 PM UTC

Bottom Line: With Russia maintaining its long-held demands in Ukraine and negotiations intensifying around President Trump’s latest peace proposal, our baseline view is that this framework will serve as the primary catalyst for a settlement. We anticipate a Russia-friendly peace deal (70% probabil

U.S. October and November Employment - Unemployment rising but economy maintains some momentum

December 16, 2025 2:22 PM UTC

November’s non-non-farm payroll at 64k does not fully erase a 105k decline in October but private payrolls at 69k in November and 52k in October maintain moderate growth, though unemployment at 4.6% in November is the highest since September 2021, and average hourly earnings growth is slowing. Oct

EM FX Outlook: High Real Yields Still Help

December 18, 2025 12:14 PM UTC

•    EM currency 2026 prospects come against a backdrop of a further but slower USD depreciation against DM currencies, but inflation differentials, domestic central bank policy and politics also matter.  We forecast the Mexican Peso (MXN) will likely be more volatile, as President Donald Tru

U.S. Consumption Vulnerable to Asset Market Hit

December 30, 2025 8:42 AM UTC

Overall, we see consumption growth prospects as being modest for 2026, as low to middle income households still struggle with the cost of living crisis. Additionally, the slowdown in immigration is causing less overall employment gains and in turn less absolute increase in real income and consumptio

December 19, 2025 11:10 AM UTC

HICP inflation has been range bound for the last 5-6 months between 2.0% and 2.2% with the November and October numbers in the middle of that range. But we see the headline rate falling out of that range in December to 1.9%, this preceding what may be a short-lived fall toward 1.5% in H1 2026.  Som

December 18, 2025 12:41 PM UTC

That the BoE delivered a sixth 25 bp rate cut (to an almost three-year low of 3.75%) was hardly in doubt.  But we were surprised that amid the recent run of weak data, that there were (again) four dissents with Governor Bailey switching sides.  Notably, in a clear combative overtone, at least some

Commodities Outlook: A Balancing Act

December 16, 2025 10:15 AM UTC

Global oil demand is expected to be modest, with weak consumption in the U.S. and China, while India will support demand in 2026 and 2027. Non-OPEC supply is expected to expand moderately in 2026, whereas OPEC’s policy will respond to demand but remains puzzling. Supply trends in 2027 are likely t

China Outlook: Headwinds Get Stronger

December 11, 2025 10:30 AM UTC

·        Private domestic demand remains modest, with consumption ranging from modest to moderate (slowed by the housing wealth hit and soft jobs/wage growth) and investment further impacted by the ongoing adverse drag of the residential property bust. China’s authorities prefer a long and