The European Central Bank (ECB)’s non-conventional measures contributed 1,7 percentage points to Spain’s real GDP growth between 2014 and 2016, while also helping to cut the public deficit by 1,9 percentage points over the same period.
J.L.M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The increase in the size of the central banks’ balance sheet has without doubt been one of the untraditional measures of the financial crisis. But the president of the ECB has anticipated that probably at its next meeting in October a scheme will be worked out to progressively reduce the asset buying programme.
Ever since December last year, when it reached its low point, almost at parity with the dollar, the euro has not stopped rising. And the European economy is doing much better than that of the US.
On the whole, the Jackson Hole symposium provided very little in the way of fresh indications on either the Fed or the ECB’s monetary policy, market experts say.
The markets are becoming increasingly sceptical about Trump’s ability to enforce any coherent economic policy mix. Even if his advisors in this field are seasoned bankers, the White House is rapidly losing its grip on critical decision-making areas, such as the budget stance.
There is not much in the way of major macro or corporate data due this week, but markets will be on the alert for any hints from regional Federal Reserve Chiefs’ as to what the US central bank’s next moves will be.
Pablo García Gómez (Carax Alphavalue) |Sector earnings from Europe for the second half of 2017 have been overall solid, with some positive surprises from “heavy cyclicals” like oil and metals and mining.
Kommer van Trigt (Robeco) | The markets are discounting that in the next few months there will be more certainty surrounding the central banks’ normalisation strategy. In its quarterly outlook, Robeco’s Global Fixed Income Macro team says it makes sense for the central banks to begin to normalise their policies.
José Luis M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The markets are discounting that in the next few months we will see greater certainty in monetary normalisation strategy. The start of the Fed’s balance sheet adjustment can also provide the rest of the central banks with information on the reversion of quantitative measures.
Not everything is clear through a crystal ball. The Fed is in the process of “normalising” interest rates, but one has to ask whether anyone really believes this…In other words, it appears the market is not convinced that the economy is getting stronger, nor that the inflation rate is hugely threatening.