UK Publications
Below is a list of our UK Publications for the last 6 months. If you are looking for reports older than 6 months please email info@pantheonmacro.com, or contact your account rep
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Daily Monitor Weekly Monitor Samuel Tombs
- Lingering votes to hike Bank Rate distract from most members’ endorsement of rate cuts this year...
- ...Two-year-ahead inflation is forecast nearer 2% under market rates than constant rates; upside skew has gone.
- We still expect the first 25bp cut to come in May, but the risks remain tilted towards a later commencement.
Samuel TombsUK
- New population estimates will likely raise the Chancellor’s room for tax cuts by £5B-to-£10B.
- The ONS has raised its forecast for growth in the working age population to 1.0% y/y over 2023-2029, from 0.6%.
- We think the OBR will respond by lifting its forecast for year-over-year growth in potential GDP by about 0.1pp.
Samuel TombsUK
- The pick-up in liquid assets despite meagre net borrowing implies households chose to save more in late 2023.
- Savings in real terms might still be below trend, but they are better distributed among households than a year ago.
- Lower mortgage rates have triggered only a small rise in approvals to date, but they will continue to recover in Q1.
Samuel TombsUK
- Energy’s weight in the CPI will likely decline in 2024, limiting the impact of falling prices on the headline rate.
- On net, weight changes will have a downward influence on the headline rate of inflation in January of about 8bp...
- ...But will then raise the path from April, albeit by no more than 20bp in any one month in 2024.
Samuel TombsUK
- People’s optimism in their personal financial outlook recovered in January to its long-run average.
- Confidence isn’t always a reliable spending bellwether, though there’s little reason to expect it to mislead now.
- Governments, however, don’t always get the credit for improving economies, as the Tories discovered in 1997.
Samuel TombsUK
- The MPC will slash its forecast for CPI inflation in 2024 after encouraging recent data and natural gas price falls.
- This revision will persuade the hawks to join the majority, but concerns about the medium-term outlook will linger.
- The MPC will try to counter market pricing for swift rate cuts by forecasting above-2% inflation two-years ahead.
Samuel TombsUK
- Public borrowing is on course to undershoot the OBR’s forecast for 2023/24 by about £5B.
- ‘Fiscal headroom’ is a distraction; Mr. Hunt will cut taxes as much as he can without jeopardising MPC rate cuts.
- We expect Budget tax cuts of £20B in 2024/25, but some people might save the windfall, fearing tax hikes soon.
Samuel TombsUK
- Vacancies are falling and redundancies are grinding higher; still no big shifts, but February is a key month.
- The OBR’s medium-term RPI inflation forecast is too low; a reappraisal would limit the rise in fiscal headroom.
- Markets’ willingness to absorb extra issuance is the main constraint on tax cuts; Mr. Hunt won’t push it too far.
Samuel TombsUK
- Retail sales fell by 0.9% q/q in Q4, but spending on services fared better; total spending likely fell only slightly.
- We judge households have finished re-accumulating the savings buffer they lost in 2022...
- ...So brisk growth in real disposable income this year should filter through to spending; the MPC won't panic.
Samuel TombsUK
- Three-month-on-three-month annualised growth in the all-items CPI slowed to just 1.4% in December...
- ...and to 2.2% for the core CPI; both headline and service inflation have undershot the MPC's forecast.
- The combination of falling energy prices and flat goods prices points to a 2% headline rate by April.
Samuel TombsUK
- The autumn slowdown in wage growth looks real; revisions after the second estimate tend to be small...
- ...But surveys point to a near-term re-acceleration, and the NLW hike looks set to have some bite.
- The unemployment rate is rising slowly; the MPC can’t be confident it is already above or near its equilibrium.
Samuel TombsUK
- Investors now attach a small probability to the MPC cutting Bank Rate by 50bp at one of its meetings.
- Almost one-third of Bank Rate cuts have been larger than 25bp, but the odds are low this year.
- Markets aren’t stressed, recession risks are easing and the MPC would prefer sub-2% to above-target inflation.
Samuel TombsUK
- GDP is on course to drop marginally in Q4, despite the rebound in November...
- ...The composite PMI picked up in December, but the retail, construction and health sectors all likely struggled.
- A recovery, however, should take hold soon; we look for 0.7% year-over-year growth in GDP in 2024.
Samuel TombsUK
- The headline rate of CPI inflation likely remained at 3.9% in December, staying 0.7pp below the MPC’s MPR forecast.
- Core goods CPI inflation probably recovered a bit after November’s dip, but services inflation likely edged down.
- A base effect likely reduced accommodation services inflation; no reason to expect an erratic airfares outturn.
Samuel TombsUK
- We look for flat employee numbers in December, a slight deterioration compared to earlier months in 2023...
- ...But October’s fall in AWE will be revised smaller, and public sector pay rises likely boosted AWE in November.
- The slowdown in wage growth likely will still be too mild for the MPC to change its tune at February’s meeting.
Samuel TombsUK
- Business surveys, employment and consumer borrowing data imply GDP is still on a rising trend.
- Output will rebound in many weather-sensitive sectors in November, after October’s bout of heavy rainfall.
- The impact of the fall in Covid booster jabs on health output will be largely offset by a hiatus in strike action.
Samuel TombsUK
- The economy had no momentum last year, partly because households’ saving ratio increased sharply...
- ...But many people have now replenished their savings; others benefited in Q4 from a jump in financial wealth.
- A revival in mortgage lending in 2024 will lower the saving ratio, ensuring spending rises more quickly than RHDI.
Samuel TombsUK
- Borrowing in the first eight months of 2023/24 is currently estimated to have topped the OBR's forecast by £6B…
- ...But early borrowing estimates often are revised down, and lower RPI inflation will weigh on interest payments.
- The fall in interest rate expectations suggests Mr. Hunt has scope to cut taxes by about £15B in the Budget.
Samuel TombsUK
- The headline CPI rose at a three-month-on-three-month annualised rate of just 1.8% in November.
- The MPC won’t dismiss this as just noise; its new measure of underlying services inflation has slowed too.
- Stable producer prices and falling energy prices imply the headline rate will hit the 2% target as soon as May.
Samuel TombsUK
- Timely indicators of house-purchase demand have strengthened, but not by quite enough to raise prices yet.
- House price indices still paint very different pictures; we expect the official index to be revised down.
- Demand, however, will recover further in Q1, as mortgage rates continue to fall; expect a 5% rise in prices in 2024.
Samuel TombsUK
