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
Please use the filters on the right to search for a specific date or topic.
Emerging Asia Daily Monitor Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)
- Stronger utility price inflation boosted CPI inflation to 2.2% year-over-year in July.
- Services inflation fell to 5.2%, below the consensus, 5.5%, driven by erratic airfares and hotel prices.
- Gradually slowing services inflation points to more rate cuts, but the MPC will wait until November.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The MPC will be encouraged that wage growth is slowing in line with its forecast for Q2.
- Rate-setters will downplay the still unreliable unemployment rate, which fell to 4.2% in June.
- But a range of data shows robust employment, which suggests the MPC will cut rates only slowly.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- We estimate that last week’s financial market volatility will cut 1 point off August’s PMI services.
- Strong new orders and firms’ confidence means the PMI services should still rise two points in August.
- The financial ructions are likely to have sliced just two points off consumers’ confidence.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- July PAYE employment should gain 30K month-to-month, while the June jobless rate rises to 4.5%.
- We think May AWE growth being revised up is a decent bet and we factor in a 0.2% bump.
- So we expect Q2 year-over-year private-sector AWE ex. bonuses growth 20bp above the MPC’s forecast.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- CPI inflation in the UK likely rose to 2.3% in July, from 2.0% in June, 0.1pp below the MPC’s forecast.
- The rise will be due to easing utility price deflation, as Ofgem cut the price cap less than in July 2023.
- We expect CPI services inflation to slow to 5.5% but uncertainty is high because of volatile hotel prices.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- Markets are pricing the MPC to cut interest rates about as fast as after the dot.com bubble burst.
- We think that is too much: our US colleagues forecast slower, but continued, US growth…
- …The UK and US economies are not currently synchronised and UK inflation is higher than in 2001.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- July’s headline PMI signals 0.2% quarter-to-quarter growth and only a gradual decline in inflation.
- Surging business optimism, hiring and new orders suggests activity growth will accelerate.
- The July PMI will not push the MPC to cut rates again in September; we now expect November.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The MPC cut rates 25bp as consensus expected, but surprised markets with dovish words and forecasts.
- The MPC cut its mode two-year inflation forecast to 1.7%, and ditched services inflation as a lode star.
- We expect one more cut this year and three in 2025 as inflation runs above the MPC’s mode forecast.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- Smaller utility price cuts this July than in 2023 will push up CPI inflation to 2.2%, from 2.0% in June.
- We expect the easing of utilities price deflation to be offset by slower goods and services inflation.
- Uncertainty is high as our call hinges on volatile public rents, likely strong, and hotel prices, likely weak.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- Increased risk appetite and approaching rate cuts led firms to raise finance for the third month in four.
- Consumers continue to plough money into ISAs to take advantage of good deposit rates.
- But we doubt households will save more, as they are already building up real liquid assets at a decent clip.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The July PMI is consistent with Q3 GDP growth of 0.2% quarter-to-quarter.
- But surging new orders and future business expectations suggest the PMI will leap in August.
- Slowing output prices will comfort the MPC, but stronger hiring could keep wage growth elevated.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The wide current account deficit reflects elevated fuel import costs and weak investment income.
- Neither factor is likely to improve in the near future, so we expect the large current account deficit to persist.
- That will hold sterling back, as will the weakest international investment position in 37 years.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves hinted she would accept 5.5% public-sector pay rises this year.
- We also expect Ms. Reeves to raise government borrowing by £22B in 2029/30 in the Autumn Statement.
- Higher public-sector pay rises than expected will have only a minor effect on the interest rate outlook.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The headlines from yesterday’s labour-market data will be music to the MPC’s ears…
- …They show slowing private-sector pay growth and signs of a continued gradual rise in unemployment.
- But the MPC must be careful; job growth is bouncing back, and AWE will likely be revised up.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- June’s services inflation strength supports our call for the MPC to wait until September to cut rates.
- It’s a close call, as an erratic surge in hotel prices linked to music events boosted services inflation.
- We expect headline CPI inflation to rise to 2.2% in July and 2.9% in November.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- BoE Chief Economist Huw Pill’s speech last week signals the first rate cut is mostly data-independent.
- The hawks are shifting to argue for only gradual cuts, so back-to-back reductions will face stiff resistance.
- Mr. Pill suggested interest rates may need to remain persistently restrictive to keep inflation at the target.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- CPI inflation likely fell to 1.9% in June, from 2.0% in May, 0.1pp below the MPC’s forecast.
- We expect June CPI services inflation to exceed the MPC’s forecast by the same 42bp margin as in May.
- Rate-setters whose June vote was a close call will be happy with the same services inflation miss as May.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- We expect PAYE employment to rise 5K in June, while the unemployment rate should hold at 4.4%.
- We think private-sector AWE will rise 0.6% month-to-month in May, as April’s NLW hike feeds through.
- Pay beating the MPC’s 0.2% forecast would support our call that it will wait until September to cut rates.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- We expect GDP to rise 0.2% month-to-month in May, as retail sales and manufacturing rebound.
- GDP is on track to increase 0.5% quarter-to-quarter in Q2, matching the MPC’s forecast.
- We expect growth to slow to 0.3% quarter-to-quarter in H2 2024, still stronger than the MPC expects.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
- The PMI fell in June, but we think this will not become a trend...
- …as businesses will look to ramp up activity if the election delivers a clear result.
- Output prices picked up in June, squeezing the MPC’s room for manoeuvre at its August meeting.
Rob Wood (Chief UK Economist)UK
