The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has again downgraded global economic growth for 2019 to 3.3%. However, the most striking point was the strong downgrade of Eurozone GDP growth, which it now forecasts at only 1% when only a few months ago it was expecting 1.8%. Germany and Italy are the countries that emerge worse from this severe downgrade of growth.
Manuel Moreno Capa | Making an attributable net profit of 3.542 billion euros is having a bad year? The answer is yes, although only of you are called Warren Buffet and these 3.542 billion euros earnt on 2018 represent a collapse of 91% over what you made in the previous year. Buffet cannot be very satisfied with these mediocre results of his investment flagship, Berkshire Hathaway.
A decade until 2030 looks like a long time, but not when the world is faced with crises on multiple fronts that require sustained action. IRIN, a website dedicated to covering humanitarian emergencies and aid, identifies 10 crises to watch in 2019, including “voluntary” returning of refugees, re-emergence of infectious diseases in countries experiencing humanitarian crises, anti-terror compliance imposed on NGOs, and continued militancy in Africa.
J.L.M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | There are structural factors driving down equilibrium interest rates at a global level. Beginning with the demographic factor, technical progress and also low productivity. As a society we are confronting a new historic era of low official interest rates and with downward pressure on interest rates in the medium and long term.
Not everything is rallying this year. India is down, which is interesting as it is a perennial favourite with international investors. Mark Tinker, Head of AXA Framlington Equities in Asia, is concerned “notably” concerned about the extent and composition of India’s growth compared to China as well as the fact that since 2013 the Chinese currency has depreciated 8% against the US Dollar while the Rupee has dropped 31%.
Following the reopening of the US Government after its shutdown, the market has been operating without data from both the US Department of Agriculture and speculative positioning data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Next report by Wisdom Tree covers a period of three months about commodity markets.
Shaun Riordan | Banks and other financial institutions are all too aware of the cybersecurity threat. They have lost millions in theft and fraud over the years. In response they have spent millions on technical measures to protect themselves, both perimeter and in depth defences. Such measures are necessary, but not sufficient.
Chandra Roy | Although Trump praised Powell for his “wisdom” and “skills” when he formally nominated him back in November 2017, within a year of this endorsement he relentlessly called in to question Jay Powell’s stewardess of the economy against the advice of top White House economic advisers, unprecedently claiming the Fed to be the “only problem in our economy”.
It was known yesterday that in January the financing to the Chinese economy reached a historical maximum in volume, growing almost 200% since December and exceeding the most optimistic forecasts. This indicator is one of the main tools that the government monitors to stimulate growth.
Until now, cryptocurrencies have only been a speculative bubble which burst, leaving bankrupt millions of people which had believed in the tale of anarcho-liberalism, which claims that they were the new international gold standard. But with 1500, or a million, possible candidates, it is difficult for states to take this data as a guarantee of stability.