ECB to Note Better Signs in Bank Lending Survey?

October 16, 2024 2:17 PM UTC

All and sundry wait as much for the what the ECB says tomorrow (Oct 17) than what it does (ie cut by another 25 bp).  The consensus is that the Council will have to sound much more cautious about downside risks to both (its somewhat optimistic) growth outlook and its too pessimistic inflation pictu

France Debt: Non-Residents Budget Jitters

October 11, 2024 9:04 AM UTC

The 2025 budget could pass via a sequence of events, but the potential outcome is so uncertain that it is difficult to attach a probability to the various scenarios. Drama will be high for the next 12 months, which will also most likely see a parliamentary election from July 2025.  France has been

ECB Preview (Oct 17): A Change of Tune, A Change of Rates

October 10, 2024 12:56 PM UTC

It now seems very likely that the ECB will cut rates at a successive Council meeting for the first time in this easing cycle dating back to June.  To date the ECB has allowed the impression that it would ease only every other meeting, ie once a quarter, partly to give it access to what it sees as k

ECB October Rate Cut for Insurance

September 30, 2024 2:20 PM UTC

Recent economic data and national CPI numbers have increased the economic case for less restrictive policy.  Combined with softening of guidance from ECB Lagarde and Schnabel, this leaves us inclined to now forecast a 25bps cut at the October 17 ECB meeting.  This will likely be followed by a 25bp

EZ HICP Preview (Oct 1): Headline Back Below Target and Backed Up By Survey Signs?

September 27, 2024 9:38 AM UTC

Lower fuel prices will be a key factor in September’s HICP numbers, and enough of a factor to pull the y/y rate to 1.9%, which would be the lowest in over three years and this despite still little material change in services inflation.  Indeed, the risk is of an even lower outcome. This may be sh

Eurozone Outlook: Downside Risks or Downside Reality?

September 23, 2024 9:17 AM UTC

 ·       It does seem as if EZ activity expectations are being pared back in line with our below consensus thinking, most notably for next year. The result is that while the economy has been growing afresh it is doing so timidly, with downside risks persisting through 2024 and 2025 and where

ECB Review: Under-Estimating Downside Risks?

September 12, 2024 2:16 PM UTC

That the ECB cut the discount rate again by another 25 bp (to 3.5%) was no surprise.  Neither was an unchanged tone at the press conference, with no clearer acknowledgment of downside risks even given ECB GDP projections (Figure 1) which moved down more toward our long-standing below-consensus thin

Eurozone: Sobering Services and Domestic Demand News is Food for ECB Doves

September 6, 2024 10:53 AM UTC

The fact that EZ growth was revised down a notch to 0.2% in Q2 is of little importance – it partly reflects a small recovery in imports that we have been flagging for some time would be a likely break on recorded activity.  Over and beyond more signs of slowing wage pressures in Q2 data, more not

ECB Preview: Growth Risks Debate Clearer?

September 5, 2024 11:18 AM UTC

That the ECB will cuts official rates again when it gives its next policy verdict on Sep 12 is now almost a given.  Even the hawks on the Council are willing to concede that the discount rate can (and maybe even should) fall another 25 bp (to 3.5%).  This will come alongside larger reductions to t

Eurozone: Labor Market Faltering

September 4, 2024 10:36 AM UTC

There are suggestions that worries about weaker growth are now reverberating within the ECB, albeit with the hawks still more mindful of service price resilience.  But the former worries chime with our long-standing concern of downside risk to what we still see is a below-consensus growth outlook,

EZ HICP Review: Disinflation Resumes Amid Services Resilience?

August 30, 2024 9:40 AM UTC

Prior to these latest HICP numbers, it could be argued that the EZ disinflation process has stalled given that no further drop beyond that to 2.4% in April had occurred.  Indeed, somewhat unexpectedly, headline HICP inflation rose a notch to 2.6% in July, reversing the slide seen in June.  This is

ECB: Life in the Not So Fast Lane!

August 27, 2024 9:47 AM UTC

A keynote speech by ECB Chief Economist Lane at Jackson Hole over the week-end suggested that further monetary easing is on the way but in a path that has to steer between the risks of moving too fast against those from moving too slowly.  Very clearly he implied that policy will still have to rema

ECB Policy Clues: July Accounts and Lane

August 22, 2024 12:24 PM UTC

Elements of the July accounts help build confidence in more easing we expect ECB Lane Jackson Hole speech on Saturday to also provide comfort in near-term rate expectations.  However, it is clear that key ECB board members do not want to be as clear as the run-up to the June meeting, but this could

EZ HICP Preview (Aug 30): Disinflation Resumes?

August 14, 2024 2:02 PM UTC

It could be argued that the EZ disinflation process has stalled given that no further drop beyond that to 2.4% in April has occurred.  Indeed, somewhat unexpectedly, headline HICP inflation rose a notch to 2.6% in July, reversing the slide seen in June.  This is even the case regarding the core ra

EZ Growth Risks Increasing?

August 12, 2024 9:52 AM UTC

The EZ economy has been seeing downside risks but ones that may now be materializing.  The fact that growth rates among the EZ main economies have diverged of late (Spain robust, Germany contracting afresh) actually reflects a marked disparity in growth rates between strong services and persisting

ECB: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

August 5, 2024 11:57 AM UTC

Amid waning momentum in business surveys of late, most notably in services, the ECB was starting to see some of the downside growth risks it has flagged actually start to materialise.  But the equity market slump now unfolding provides an added and significant downside risk.  It has direct adverse

EZ HICP Review: Disinflation Stalls?

July 31, 2024 9:32 AM UTC

It could be argued that the EZ disinflation process has stalled given that no further drop beyond that to 2.4% in April has occurred.  Indeed, somewhat unexpected, headline HICP inflation rose a notch to 2.6% in the July flash, reversing the slide seen in June.  This is even the case regarding the

Eurozone GDP Review: Conflicting Signals?

July 30, 2024 9:31 AM UTC

At best, the EZ economy is diverging ever more clearly as Germany falters while Spain prospers more discernibly.  But while EZ GDP may have shown a sub-trend type result of 0.3%, thereby matching the Q1 outcome, there are questions about momentum, with survey data suggesting it is both feeble and p

Eurozone Data Preview (Jul 30): Fading Momentum?

July 25, 2024 9:19 AM UTC

According to revised official national accounts data, the EZ economy actually avoided what was previously suggested to have been a modest recession in H2 last year. Moreover, the economy sparked back in Q1, albeit against a backdrop of marked, if not increasing, national growth divergences but where

EZ HICP Preview (Jul 31): Disinflation Continues - Below-Target Rate Looming?

July 23, 2024 10:09 AM UTC

The clear disinflation trend was still evident even after higher and higher-than-expected May numbers, where the headline moved up from 2.4% to a three-month high of 2.6%.  That disinflation trend looks more discernible after the partial drop back to 2.5% seen in the June HICP, albeit with some far

ECB Review: Policy Window Stays Very Open

July 18, 2024 1:56 PM UTC

Maybe the ECB is now thinking that it was too clear at its April Council meeting that rate cut would occur subsequently in June, basically then suggesting that something would have to occur to prevent such a move.  This time, with policy rates held as very much expected, the policy window was merel

Eurozone Banks See Consumer Loan Demand Recover

July 16, 2024 8:58 AM UTC

There were more positive straws in the wind in the latest (July 2024) bank lending survey (BLS), providing some reassurance for the ECB ahead of this week’s Council meeting. Most notable was a reported increase in demand for both housing loans and consumer credit for the first time since 2022 and

France in the Fiscal Firing Line

July 16, 2024 7:31 AM UTC

EU finance ministers gather in Brussels today in a regular meeting but this time will discuss excessive fiscal deficits in various member countries, in particular, Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary and Poland.  It is unclear just how specific any criticisms will be either in pointing out particular c

ECB Preview (Jul 18): Policy to Pause Amid Mixed Data

July 12, 2024 9:36 AM UTC

ECB thinking comes backs onto the radar screen next Thursday.  Given the hints from Council members, all policy rates will be held this time around. But markets will be more focused on hints on the speed and timing of further moves, not least after what was one formal dissent last time, and amid wi

France Gets PPP - Protracted Policy Paralysis?

July 8, 2024 6:46 AM UTC

French politics is getting used to surprises.  After the unexpected snap election that saw the far right poll the most in the first round of parliamentary results last week, Sunday’s second round surprisingly saw President Macron's centrist forces perform more strongly than expected by coming in

ECB: Council Policy Reservations Deeper Than Expected?

July 4, 2024 12:23 PM UTC

The account of the June ECB Council meeting confirmed one dissent against the widely flagged 25 bp rate cut but also revealed perhaps clearer reservation among some other members about easing at that juncture.  Indeed, there seemed to be disagreement about interpreting data; what is the basis for a

EZ: Is the Labor Market Starting to Labor?

July 3, 2024 10:51 AM UTC

With markets and policy makers very much focused on inflation, the EZ labor market continues to shine – apparently! Indeed, the EZ jobless rate has remains at a record-low of 6.4%, hinting at labor market tightness that will perturb ECB hawks wary of higher ensuing wage pressures.  But this appar

EZ HICP Review (Jul 2): Disinflation Resumes Amid Services Resilience – July Cut Off Table?

July 2, 2024 9:33 AM UTC

The clear disinflation trend was still evident even after higher and higher-than-expected May numbers, where the headline moved up from 2.4% to a three-month high of 2.6%.  That trend looks more discernible after the partial drop back to 2.5% seen in the June flash HICP, albeit with some far from r

France: Heading for Policy Paralysis?

July 1, 2024 6:45 AM UTC

After the largely expected first round of parliamentary results, in which the far right won the most votes, equally expected has been the fact that both the centrist and left parties have already called for tactical voting to stop the right winning an actual majority in run-offs on Jul 7.  It is st

Eurozone: Monetary Messages Gaining More Prominence?

June 28, 2024 11:11 AM UTC

Amid speculation about the size and durability of any EZ real economy recovery, one important thing is still lacking.  Indeed, monetary data remain weak; while money supply growth measures have turned positive what we think are the more important aspects, namely credit data remain feeble.  Data th

EZ HICP Preview (Jul 2): Broad Disinflation Resumes? – A Round-Up of Recent Trends

June 26, 2024 10:29 AM UTC

The clear disinflation thrust of recent data (Figure 1) has obviously affected most ECB thinking.  Notably, the downward trend is still evident even after higher and higher-than-expected May numbers, where the headline moved up from 2.4% to a three-month high of 2.6%.  More notable perhaps was tha

Eurozone Outlook: The Last (Disinflation) Mile

June 19, 2024 8:48 AM UTC

·       Our still soft EZ GDP outlook remains only a little below consensus and ECB thinking as we still suggest ECB 2022-23 policy has caused a clear increase in the cost of credit alongside a fall in supply of credit. The result is that while the economy is now growing afresh but is doing s

France Debt: Dependent on Non-Residents

June 18, 2024 9:20 AM UTC

Any further major fiscal slippage under a new government could prompt more of a reduction in French government bond exposure, which would likely mean a multi month/quarter risk premia for France and cause spillover difficulties for Italy. It is worth remembering that France is dependent on non-resid

European Parliament Election Results: A Swing to the Centre Right But Further Right in France

June 10, 2024 8:52 AM UTC

This week-end’s European Parliament elections produced the widely expected swing to the right, albeit more an electoral rebuff for incumbent ruling parties as voters registered their protests against current governments.   Hard-right parties largely did well but there were clear exceptions (Belg

ECB Review: Clearly No Policy Pre-Commitment But Policy Entering New Phase

June 6, 2024 2:11 PM UTC

As has been the case with many recent ECB verdicts, markets are keener to hear what is being said by the Council rather than what has been done.  In regard to the latter, and given the almost unanimous hints from Council members, all policy rates were cut by the expected 25 bp, with the key deposit

European Parliament Election: A Swing to the Right?

June 4, 2024 9:09 AM UTC

This week-end (Jun 6-9 actually) sees fresh European Parliament elections, with it likely that that compared to the last (2019) result, there will be a clear swing to right-wing and/or populist parties.  However, polls do not suggest anything like enough of swing away from the current parliamentary

EZ HICP Review: Core Disinflation Unwinds as Services Resilience Persists?

May 31, 2024 9:42 AM UTC

Very much having affected ECB thinking, there has been repeated positive EZ news in the form of falling EZ HICP inflation and somewhat broadly so. This abated last month and even more so in these May numbers, with the headline moving up from the unchanged 2.4% reading to a three-month high of 2.6%,

ECB Preview (June 6): D-Day

May 30, 2024 10:44 AM UTC

Given the almost unanimous hints from Council members, something unexpected is needed to prevent the ECB from starting to cut its policy rates on June 6, most notably the key deposit rate currently at an unprecedented 4.0%. The question markets are considering is how/when this widely expected 25 bp

Eurozone: PMIs Offer More Positive Gimmers – Still Too Good to be True?

May 23, 2024 9:19 AM UTC

The latest PMI data suggest the EZ economic recovery gained further momentum in May as the composite index rose to 52.3 in May from 51.7 in April, thereby implying positive private sector growth for the third consecutive month.  We remain wary about the messages from the data (see below and Figure

EZ HICP Preview (May 31): Core Disinflation Continues?

May 22, 2024 11:10 AM UTC

Very much having affected ECB thinking, there has been repeated positive EZ news in the form of falling EZ HICP inflation and somewhat broadly so. This abated in April, with the headline staying at 2.4% but with the core down a further 0.2 ppt to a 27-mth low of 2.7%, as higher fuel prices were offs

ECB: June Rate Cuts Too Trigger More Rate Cut Expectations for 2024/25

May 20, 2024 10:50 AM UTC

However much the Council will resist fueling discussion of possible easing path, confirmation of a 1 cut normally increases speculation over further easing in subsequent quarters and we see 25bps in June followed by 25bps in September and December.  The market could discount some more easing over t

Eurozone: Consumers - Still Missing?

May 15, 2024 10:34 AM UTC

Revised national account data confirmed the upside surprise in the preliminary data with EZ GDP rising 0.3% q/q.  The question is whether this emergence from the modest H2 2023 recession is the start of more sustained momentum.  We think not, mainly due to what are still weak consumer fundamentals

Eurozone Data Review: Less Weak But Soft Domestic Demand Taking Less Toll on Core Inflation?

April 30, 2024 9:29 AM UTC

According to revised official national accounts data, the EZ economy was in recession in H2 last year, albeit modestly so and against a backdrop of marked, if not increasing, national growth divergences. This geographical variation continued into Q1 (Figure 1) where the flash GDP reading exceeded ex

Eurozone GDP Preview (Apr 30): Less Weak?

April 24, 2024 11:06 AM UTC

According to revised official national accounts data, the EZ economy was in recession in H2 last year, albeit modestly so and against a backdrop of marked, if not increasing, national growth divergences. This geographical variation is likely to have continued into Q1 (Figure 1) where we see a flat o

EZ HICP Preview (Apr 30): Core Disinflation Signs to Flatten Out Further?

April 23, 2024 9:43 AM UTC

Very much having affected ECB thinking, there has been repeated positive EZ news in the form of falling EZ HICP inflation and somewhat broadly so. This continued in the March HICP numbers, with the 0.2 ppt drops in both headline and core being a notch more sizeable than most anticipated. Regardless,

ECB Review: ECB Hums Easing Tune for June

April 11, 2024 1:58 PM UTC

Surprising hardly anyone, the ECB is preparing to cut official rates, after what are now five successive stable policy decisions. It explicitly suggested that it could be appropriate to reduce the current level of monetary policy restriction, a policy hint backed up by dropping its previous rhetoric

Eurozone Banks See Company Loan Demand Slump as ECB Unconventional Tightening Bites Further

April 9, 2024 9:22 AM UTC

While there may be few positive straws in the wind in the latest (April) 2024 bank lending survey (BLS), the ECB should fund the balance of results still troubling.  Company credit demand slumped afresh amid rising interest rates and deferred capex plans.  Admittedly, credit supply to firms tighte

ECB Preview (Apr 11): Still the Focus on Words Not Deeds – For Now!

April 4, 2024 12:22 PM UTC

As has been the case for several times now, the ECB meeting verdict due next Thursday (Apr 11) will be notable not for what the Council does but rather what is said just as at the March meeting whose minutes were released today.  A fifth successive stable policy decision is very much expected, albe

EZ HICP Review: Core Disinflation Flattening Out?

April 3, 2024 9:34 AM UTC

Very much having affected ECB thinking, there has been repeated positive EZ news in the form of falling inflation and somewhat broadly so. This continued in the March HICP numbers, with the 0.2 ppt drops in both headline and core being a notch more sizeable than most anticipated. Regardless, the hea