Banks Warn of Growing Energy-Related Risks in Mortgage Portfolios
Across Europe, banks are trying to figure out how to handle a growing risk lurking in residential mortgage portfolios: energy consumption.
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Across Europe, banks are trying to figure out how to handle a growing risk lurking in residential mortgage portfolios: energy consumption.
Inflation-related releases across the Group of Seven will prime central bankers for crucial June interest-rate decisions, just as they meet in Italy to discuss the state of the world economy.
Big US bond investors have been aggressively shifting money into long-dated notes, betting that the unloved asset class will be one of the winners from eventual interest rate cuts.
A measure of underlying US inflation cooled in April for the first time in six months, a small step in the right direction for Federal Reserve officials looking to start cutting interest rates this year.
Emerging-market currencies dipped Friday on dwindling optimism over Federal Reserve rate cuts, paring their fourth-straight week of gains.
Aug 11, 2016
Reuters
,LONDON - British housing market activity ebbed the month following the vote to leave the European Union, with gauges of house price growth and transactions falling to the lowest level in years, a survey showed on Thursday.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its members cited uncertainty following the June 23 referendum and tax changes as the main reasons for the slowdown - but some said activity had started to improve after an initial wobble.
Its headline price balance - a leading indicator of other house price indexes - fell to +5 in July from +15 in June, its lowest level since April 2013. House price declines were most acute in London, although the pace eased a little from June.
Overall property transactions declined at the same pace as in June, marking the weakest two months since mid-2008. RICS said a severe shortage of property coming to the market could yet weigh further on the market.
Last week Bank of England Governor Mark Carney highlighted signs that the housing market was weakening after the central bank cut interest rates to a new record low and launched a stimulus package that could add up to 170 billion pounds (US$222 billion) to the financial system.
"The housing market is currently balancing a raft of somewhat mixed economic news alongside the latest policy measures announced by the Bank of England, which have already begun to lower cost of mortgage finance," said Simon Rubinsohn, RICS' chief economist.
"Against this backdrop, it is not altogether surprising that near term activity measures remain relatively flat.
A rebound in July price expectations for the year ahead could signal that confidence is more robust than suggested in the previous month's survey, Rubinsohn added.
RICS' balance of expected sales in the next three months recovered to -2 from a record low of -26 in the previous month's survey.