Peter Isackson | The fact-checking is finished, and the polls to determine who won and who lost will soon be wiped from our collective memory. While it lasted, it wasn’t exactly waterboarding but for many it was an unambiguous case of torture. The three debates are over, praise the Lord. America is now entering the brief phase in which it can look back at the weirdest US presidential campaign in history.
Mark Tinker at AXA IM | While investors wait for clarity on US politics, a revisit to our balance sheet approach to economics shows that data on US household wealth and income growth undermines the widespread ‘Great Recession’ meme. US household wealth is up 37% since 2010 and disposable income growth is up 4%.
AXA IM | While the magic of Mario Draghi was being fully played out, the economic and financial outlook looks on an improving path to recovery in a post-crisis world. Clouds in this blue –but not entirely clear– sky may emerge from the political sphere.
AXA IM | Markets have reacted to his trade policy proposals, but implications are more far-reaching. A key macroeconomic difference between Clinton and Trump victories is the short-term cyclical outlook, with a more forceful fiscal stimulus under a Trump presidency. This would imply Clinton win (baseline) stronger GDP growth, steeper Fed tightening, a stronger dollar and higher US treasury yields.
UBS | Since 2010 US productivity growth has been just over 1%, a deceleration not only from the long-term average but also weaker than the rate of productivity growth seen in the 70s and 80s. That said, a 10-year average does not look too low relative to history.
Henry M. Paulson Jr via Caixin | Trade does result in very real and serious job losses, while its benefits are spread more broadly over the entire U.S. economy. Yet many job losses are not a result of trade; they are actually driven by productivity gains related to rapid advancements in technology, a powerful force disrupting labor markets globally and affecting numerous countries, including the U.S. and China.
Philippe Waechter, chief economist at Natixis AM explains the current structure of US prices showing that housing market contributes to more than 60% of the inflation rate.
BoAML | With an abundance of stories about how things can go wrong for the US economy, we are often asked to lay out a scenario in which the data surprise to the upside. In our view, the burden rests on the labor market. If there is an increase in demand for labor, which is met by a gain in supply, we could settle on a stronger trend in job growth.
James Alexander via Historinhas | It’s taken a while but the evidence is now in. Euro Area NGDP growth has overtaken US NGDP growth. Congratulations to the ECB, commiserations to the Fed. Go Europe!
J. L. M.Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | During one of the conferences at last week’s Jackson Hole meeting, ECB council member Benoit Coeure analysed the extreme monetary measures taken by the ECB (in reality by all the main central banks) during the crisis. His opinion was that the neutral interest rate equilibrium is now very low (the product of a combination of low potential growth and low inflation expectations) which explains the remainder of the exceptional measures implemented.