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Insight articles
Economic Updates
Economic Updates
Economic Update
Economic Update March 2023
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Recession fears have eased substantially in recent months in response to a raft of stronger-than-expected economic data. But this threatens to keep inflation higher for longer. Central banks appear set to keep tightening policy until the data have turned.
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Economic Update
2023 Economic Outlook
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
There are downside risks to global growth in 2023 as central banks are expected to keep tightening monetary policy to slow persistent inflation. The speed at which inflation decelerates will be a key focus for investors.
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Economic Update
Economic Update December 2022
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Advanced economies are navigating the dual challenge of high inflation and weakening growth. Policy tightening will likely continue, suggesting downside risks to growth in 2023. This is the cost of central banks trying to lower inflation.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2022
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Advanced economies continue to navigate a challenging environment. Inflation remains elevated and central banks have signalled that a painful period of adjustment lies ahead. Households are set to bear the brunt and recession risk is increasing.
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Economic Update
Economic Update June 2022
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Frans van den Bogaerde,
Economist
The global growth outlook continues to soften, with rampant inflation and the challenging withdrawal of the extremely accommodative monetary settings, but policy tightening is the correct course of action for central banks.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2022
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Hawkish monetary policy tightening expectations and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are both impacting at a time when many economies remain vulnerable. This is making the already challenging job of central bankers even harder.
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Economic Update
2022 Economic Outlook
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
In 2022, we expect policymakers to work towards fixing global supply-demand imbalances. So asset markets will need to cope with policy normalisation, slowing growth rates and the Omicron COVID variant that presents downside growth risks.
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Economic Update
Economic Update December 2021
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Policymakers globally face the unenviable task of guiding the transition to a new normal, with a focus on fixing supply-demand imbalances and helping both inflation and unemployment to fall. There is little room for error.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2021
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Many advanced economies are close to ‘peak rebound’ from pandemic driven recessions, with the tailwinds of expansionary fiscal and monetary policy set to fade and supply constraints posing a headwind to future growth.
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Economic Update
Economic Update June 2021
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Advanced economies will experience stronger near-term growth as economies re-open and are fuelled by ongoing stimulus. Recent US inflation concerns have impacted markets but should be transitory as demand and supply normalise following the recovery phase.
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Economic Insight
The impact of unlisted infrastructure assets on portfolios
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Frans van den Bogaerde,
Economist
Unlisted infrastructure has the potential to provide solid returns in a low-yielding world that can facilitate effective portfolio diversification and contribute to improved risk adjusted returns.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2021
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Global economies have come through what appears to be the worst of the COVID-19 crisis, with continued policy support and the roll out of vaccines giving rise to a relatively optimistic outlook.
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Economic Update
Economic Update December 2020
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Globally, a surge in COVID-19 in Q4 will weigh on near term growth, although the announcement of several promising vaccines has provided some light at the end of the tunnel.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2020
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The economic shock caused by the COVID-19 crisis is severe - many countries have suffered the steepest fall in output since official records began, most are in recession and the path to recovery is anything but certain.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2020
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The cautious optimism that greeted 2020 has already evaporated, following the emergence of a new virus. A material global economic impact is likely, but much uncertainty surrounds its severity and duration, and the policy response.
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Economic Update
Economic Update December 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The past year was characterised by a global slowdown, precipitated by increasing geopolitical uncertainty and heightened trade frictions.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
August was a challenging month for equity markets with the escalation of the US-China trade tensions. Recession fears re-emerge as the flow through impact from weaker trade growth now threatens to flow through economies exposed to global trade.
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Economic Update
Economic Update August 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
With the US Federal Reserve easing its policy rate for the first time since 2008, the era of removing post-financial crisis monetary stimulus has now officially drawn to a close.
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Economic Update
Economic Update July 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Global trade tensions remained a key focus of markets over recent weeks, clouding the outlook for economic growth.
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Economic Update
Economic Update June 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
May proved a challenging month for global investors, with equity markets selling off throughout the month. The primary factor driving global markets lower was an intensification of global trade tensions.
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Economic Update
Economic Update May 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The global economy is poised at “a delicate moment”. While economic growth will likely soften further through 2019, fears of imminent recession are largely overblown.
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Economic Update
Economic Update April 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Conflicting signals emanated from the world’s two largest economies over the past month, each with implications for the global growth outlook.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Global equity markets have continued to recover through February. The fundamental question for investors is for how much longer can gains persist if global growth continues to decelerate throughout the course of 2019.
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Economic Update
Economic Update February 2019
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Looking ahead, geopolitical concerns and anxiety as to the future prospects of the global economy will likely ebb and flow for some time to come yet.
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Economic Update
Economic Update November 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
In 2018 the unusually synchronised economic growth upswing that characterised 2016 and 2017 ended.
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Economic Update
Economic Update October 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
As the US economy continues to motor along, its outperformance is leaving other global economies in its wake.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
IFM Investors Chief Economist Dr Alex Joiner comments on the latest global economic news and trends.
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Economic Update
Economic Update August 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
With global trade tensions rising, it is becoming increasingly evident that ‘trade wars’ are threatening to reopen ‘currency wars’.
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Economic Update
Economic Update July 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
As the second half of 2018 begins it appears that peak investor and participant bullishness towards the much vaunted synchronous global economic cycle has now passed.
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Economic Update
Economic Update June 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
As we approach the mid-point of 2018, it seems appropriate to look back to see how markets have performed so far this year, and why.
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Economic Update
Economic Update May 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) was released in April.
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Economic Update
Economic Update April 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The volatility that characterised global investment markets in February and March has continued into April.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The US economic outlook is of key interest to investors globally as it drives the underlying prospects for financial markets.
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Economic Update
Economic Update February 2018
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
As 2017 ended, markets had entered a bliss point, with strong returns in a low volatility environment.
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Economic Update
Economic Update November 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
We entered 2017 full of trepidation. Geopolitical risks were taking precedence over economic ones, and a dreaded “Black Swan” event was seemingly a very real prospect.
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Economic Update
Economic Update October 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The US economy continues to perform well as we move into the last quarter of 2017.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Another watershed moment in the post-global financial crisis monetary experiment fast approaches.
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Economic Update
Economic Update August 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had markets moving this month, particularly the Australian dollar.
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Economic Update
Economic Update July 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Evidence continues to mount that the era of extraordinary central bank policy accommodation is at an end.
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Economic Update
Economic Update June 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Global financial markets continued to edge cautiously higher through May.
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Economic Update
Economic Update May 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) was released in April.
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Economic Update
Economic Update April 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
For much of the last month or so the upward momentum in US financial markets has begun to wane.
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Economic Update
Economic Update March 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Markets focused heavily on policy speeches given in the US this month.
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Economic Update
Economic Update February 2017
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The financial market’s positive view of President Donald Trump’s economic policy platform has now spread to market and official economists alike.
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Economic Update
Economic Update December 2016
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
The global economic environment can be described as lukewarm in 2016.
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Economic Update
Economic Update November 2016
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Nervousness ahead of the US election dominated markets and news flow over much of late October and early November.
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Economic Update
Economic Update October 2016
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Central banks the focus of market attention - Recent market focus has squarely been on the advanced economy central banks.
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Economic Update
Economic Update September 2016
Alex Joiner,
Chief Economist
Recent months have brought further monetary policy stimulus in Japan and the UK.
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