Archive

October 08, 2025
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US Shutdown: A Means To An End

  • The Democrats opted for a US government shutdown despite the Administration being well prepared for what it sees as an opportunity to promote its longer-term agenda.
  • While they hold out, the president’s ‘grim reaper’, OMB Director Russell Vought, will have a free hand to cut the size of government and pursue his unitary executive vision.
  • Some of his actions will undoubtedly be challenged in the courts, but the signs are that the Supreme Court will continue to side firmly with the Administration.

By Alastair Newton

October 07, 2025
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US: Steady As She Shuts

  • The US government shutdown causes vital economic data to go dark, leaving the Fed facing market pressure to blindly cut rates as priced, creating risks of policy error.
  • Both parties see strategic value in prolonging the shutdown, risking disruption that lasts well beyond historical norms. But levels will rebound when it inevitably ends.
  • In the interim, private surveys signal weakness, and this picture is unlikely to improve significantly enough to block cuts in 2025, but that won’t drive more Fed cuts in 2026.

By Philip Rush

October 02, 2025
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EA: Rounding Jobs For Migrants

  • A surprise rise in EA unemployment reflects rounding rather than alarming weakness, with labour supply and demand still surging. Finland’s woes are more idiosyncratic.
  • Supply has trended much faster post-pandemic, sustaining demand at its old trend without extreme capacity constraints. Migration has more than accounted for the rise.
  • Ukrainians are dominating the flow and complicating the read through to disinflationary spare capacity. Wage growth is an even more critical signal when supply is uncertain.

By Philip Rush

October 01, 2025
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EA: Core Excess Revealed In Sep-25

  • Inflation’s break above target to 2.23%, within 1bp of our forecast, came as past energy price falls dropped out to reveal the more resilient underlying pressures.
  • Small upside surprises in large countries, like Germany and Italy, were balanced in number and contribution by larger surprises in small ones, like Greece and Estonia.
  • We expect less negative payback in October and January, preventing our profile from languishing below the target through 2026, like the consensus view does.

By Philip Rush

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