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Developed Countries

Special Report

This Special Report discusses why there is a non-negligible risk that the US Congress will not reach a timely agreement to lift the debt ceiling this summer. It also discusses what will happen in bond markets in the lead up to the debt limit and in the case where a deal is not reached in time.

Germany’s Ifo Business Climate Index inched up from 93.2 to 93.6 in April, slightly above anticipations of a more muted rise to 93.4. Interestingly, a 1.2-point increase in the Expectations components drove the improvement in the headline index and surprised…
French MSCI consumer discretionary shares have performed strongly over the past year, booking a gain of 31%. Consequently, they have outperformed global consumer discretionary by 42%, and the Eurozone stock market by 24%. As a result, French consumer…
According to BCA Research’s US Investment Strategy service, the SIFI banks’ first quarter earnings confirm that an inflection in the business cycle is not just around the corner. The SIFI banks (BAC, C, JPM and WFC) reported their first quarter earnings…

European equities continue to inch closer to record highs, yet, their earnings outlook is deteriorating. How can investors build hedging portfolios using the message from earnings and valuations to protect themselves against the growing risk of a pullback?

The latest round of earnings calls from the systemically important banks was encouraging on balance. Households are still flush and still spending and consumer and business delinquencies remain remarkably low. Though a recession is surely coming, it doesn’t seem to be lurking just around the corner.

In this week’s report, we look at the current de-dollarization discussion within the context of the USD’s near-term cyclical outlook, and whether it warrants a bullish or bearish stance.

Japanese inflation was perky in March. Headline CPI came in at 3.2%, a slight deceleration from the previous month on a year-on-year basis, but still astronomical by Japanese standards. The real surprise was the acceleration in core CPI (ex-fresh food and…
Last week’s US unemployment insurance claims data showed an increase in both initial and continuing claims. While weekly initial claims rose from 240k to 245k, the jump in continuing claims from 1.80 million to 1.87 million was more notable because it…
The rapid rise in US interest rates that has occurred since early 2022 has been the main driver of global risky asset prices over the past year. This quick tightening in monetary policy has occurred because of a surge in inflation to levels that are well…