The US economy has been the star performer this year, with GDP set to expand by 2.5% and the unemployment rate stable at below 4%. This stands in marked contrast to the Eurozone and UK economies, which have largely stagnated in 2023. However, despite the weakness of European activity, the ECB and Bank of England stuck to the script at their policy meetings last week, indicating that they will need to keep policy tight well into next year in order to bring inflation back down to its 2% target, with no room for early rate cuts.