Leading Indicators - 5th May

Our weekly roundup of the economic and financial metrics you need to track, and what to look out for in the week ahead. This replaces our previous Daily Economic Dashboard.

In this edition:

• The UK 10-year gilt yield has added +6bps over the week to 0.84%, its highest level in over a month. The German 10-year bund yield is +4bps higher at -0.21% while the US 10-year treasury yield is down -1bp over the week to 1.62%.
• UK retail REITs recorded strong uplift over the week, with the sector’s gross total return increasing +4.6%. This was the greatest weekly increase of all sectors and notably higher than the +0.6% FTSE 250 total return increase. Retail REITs were also the best performer in the US, with a +2.4% weekly gain.
• Eurozone GDP contracted -0.6% q-q in Q1, just above expectations of -0.7%. The trading bloc entered into a double dip recession, following a -0.7% decrease in Q4 2020. Germany (-1.7%), Spain (-0.5%) and Italy (-0.4%) all recorded declines, while France (+0.4%) saw GDP growth.