Bloomberg (September 15)
“China’s economy picked up steam in August as a summer travel boom and a heftier stimulus push boosted consumer spending and factory output, adding to nascent signs of stabilization…. Optimism is slowly building among some investors that Beijing’s recent efforts to boost the economy and financial markets are starting to bear fruit. Even so, it’s early days — and a single month of data isn’t enough to confirm a sustained recovery trajectory.”
Tags: August, China, Consumer spending, Economy, Factory output, Investors, Nascent, Optimism, Stabilization, Stimulus, Travel boom
Irish Times (September 10)
Some are hoping government stimulus will jumpstart the Chinese economy. “The more likely scenario is continued weak growth.” What remains to be seen is “is how quickly the government will shift away from stimulus measures to a faster fundamental overhaul of its growth strategy.” China needs to tackle “more persistent and structural growth challenges,” which have resulted from “an economic strategy that has historically over-relied on real estate, high local debt, inefficient state-owned enterprises, lower-end manufacturing, and domestic consumer internet platforms.”
Tags: Challenges, China, Economy, Government, Growth strategy, Inefficient, Jumpstart, Manufacturing, Overhaul, Persistent, Real estate, State-owned enterprises, Stimulus, Structural, Weak
Reuters (November 11)
“Signs of weakness are emerging” across the Chinese economy where “exports fell; inflation slowed; new bank lending tumbled…. Despite the authorities bucking the global trend… and deploying monetary and fiscal easing this year.” The “unexpectedly weak run of Chinese economic data” raises “the heat on policymakers to deliver more stimulus measures, but it also shows the limited effect more monetary easing and infrastructure spending can have.”
Tags: Bank lending, Economy, Emerging, Exports, Fiscal, Global trend, Inflation, Infrastructure spending, Limited effect, Monetary easing, Signs, Stimulus, Tumbled, Weak, Weakness
American Banker (June 21)
“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to hike deposit insurance assessment rates next year — a move that would increase costs for banks as they continue to see high deposit growth more than a year after the last round of pandemic stimulus.” On Tuesday, “the FDIC voted to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that would raise deposit insurance assessment rates by 2 basis points for all insured depository institutions.”
Tags: Assessment rates, Banks, Costs, Deposit growth, Depository institutions, FDIC, Increase, Insurance, Pandemic, Rulemaking, Stimulus
New York Times (November 4)
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced a tapering of stimulus programs, but he did not “lay the groundwork for higher rates.” That doesn’t mean “the era of near-zero rates will last anything close to as long as it did after the global financial crisis,” but if the current inflation surge “proves something other than temporary, Mr. Powell’s decision to stick to his guns” on interest rates “will loom as a missed moment to join other English-speaking countries in using monetary policy to try to stamp it out.”
Tags: Fed, Global financial crisis, Inflation, Interest, Monetary policy, Near-zero, Powell, Rates, Stimulus, Surge, Tapering
Wall Street Journal (October 28)
The U.K. dialed back government stimulus for the fast growing British economy, one of the first big Western economies to step away from the emergency policies put in place to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.” The shift is being spurred by “a buoyant growth outlook and concern over surging inflation,” which is “expected to accelerate to around 5% next year, more than double the BOE’s 2% goal.”
Tags: Buoyant, Concern, Coronavirus, Emergency policies, Fast growing. British economy, Government, Growth, Inflation, Outlook, Pandemic, Stimulus, Surging, U.K.
Reuters (April 1)
“Global equity markets surged on Thursday, with U.S. and European benchmark indexes hitting record highs, as the strongest manufacturing data around the world in decades and a drop in bond yields drove investor optimism.” Support is strong with “multiple tailwinds— stimulus, expectations of record earnings, vaccines—driving stocks higher.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bond yields, Earnings, Equity, Europe, Global, Indexes, Investor, Manufacturing, Markets, Optimism, Stimulus, Surged, Tailwinds, U.S.
Bloomberg (September 24)
“As the likelihood of additional federal stimulus fades, U.S. stock investors are returning their focus to the coronavirus pandemic and not liking what they see.” Consumers are again cutting back and “the prospects for a vaccine in the next few months have also waned just as the latest data shows an uptick in cases.” Moves by the Federal Reserve and “$3 trillion of federal stimulus helped fuel a torrid five-month rally that began in March,” but “their limitations have become clear.”
Tags: Consumers, Coronavirus, Cutting back, Fed, Limitations, Pandemic, Rally, Stimulus, Stock investors, U.S., Uptick, Vaccine
Investment Week (September 14)
The “Next Generation EU” deal provides ESG investors with much to watch. The €550bn “centerpiece of the stimulus” focuses on fighting climate change through “expenditures earmarked for promoting energy efficiency and developing renewable energy resources, emission-free vehicles, and sustainable transport, alongside other measures of environmental protection designed to help meet Europe’s 2050 climate neutrality pledge.”
Tags: 2050, Climate change, Climate neutrality, Efficiency, ESG, EVs, Investors, Next Generation EU, Renewable energy, Stimulus, Transport
New York Times (June 17)
“In many ways, the economic recovery from the coronavirus has defied the worst-case scenarios. Jobs, spending and markets have bounced back more quickly than expected, although they largely remain below pre-pandemic levels. This is mostly thanks to unprecedented government intervention, but many of those stimulus programs are set to expire soon. Then what?”
Tags: Coronavirus, Economic recovery, Intervention, Jobs, Markets, Pandemic, Scenarios, Spending, Stimulus, Worst-case
