Equity markets: In search of Goldilocks' inflation


What effect do changes in inflation have on equity performance? What do we expect moving forward? Historically, monetary and fiscal easing periods tend to be favorable for equity investors, as equity tends to generate decent returns in periods of accelerating, but still manageable, reflationary pressures.

Investment is back: Harder, better, faster, stronger?

In the short run, a demand catch-up and the reduction in spare capacities will drive a business investment recovery… With the progressive easing of sanitary restrictions, normalizing capacity utilization levels will push up business investment by +18.4% in the UK, +5.4% in France, +4.0% in the US and +2.5% in Germany.

European Corporates: Cash-rich sectors get richer

The Covid-19 crisis has pushed up cash concentration among European non-financial corporates: overall, NFCs now hold cash reserves equivalent to three months of turnover, more than half a month higher than pre-crisis averages, and it is the richest sectors and companies that have become even richer. 

Demystifying the four horsemen of the inflation apocalypse

Will Covid-19 be the inflation game-changer in 2021? We are firmly in the “reflation” not “inflation” camp: expect a temporary inflation overshoot in the coming months, rather than consumer prices galloping out of control. 

Taper Tantrum in 2021-22: Beware of the TUCKANS

The Fed will start to normalize its monetary rather sooner than later. With the recent USD1.9trn fiscal stimulus package and a new USD2.3trn infrastructure program (our estimate of what could represent the amount of the Build Back Better program), US GDP growth is likely to reach +6.1% in 2021 and +4.1% in 2022. 

Unleashing excess FX reserves: To boost growth in Latin America

In 2021, Latin American countries could be holding "excess" FX reserves of around 8.8% of GDP, with an opportunity cost to economic activity as high as 0.7% of GDP. Redirecting excess reserves to long-term productive investments would help Latin America bridge its infrastructure gap, boost productivity and thus enhance the business environment, creating more opportunities for companies.

Biden´s infrastructure plan: Defying gravity?

Biden’s USD2.3trn ‘Build Back Better’ infrastructure plan represents the second stage of a three-phase stimulus rocket and will be a long-term driver of growth in the US.

Race to the post Covid-19 recovery: Seven obstacles to overcome

The global recovery is on the right track albeit conditional on key differentiating elements across countries. Global GDP is expected to rebound by +5.1% in 2021, with one fourth of the recovery being driven by the US, while China should contribute less to growth by progressively adopting a less accommodative economic policy. In 2022, world GDP growth should reach +4.0%. Europe should recover its Covid-19 losses only at this horizon against H2 2021 for the US. The race to recovery will hinge on seven key obstacles.

The Suez canal ship is not the only thing clogging global trade

On 23 March 2021, a 400-metre-long container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal in Egypt. We calculate that each day of immobilization could cost global trade USD6bn-10bn. The problem is that the Suez Canal blockage is the straw that breaks global trade’s back. Supply-chain disruptions since the beginning of the year (shortages of containers, semi-conductors, etc.) could cost real trade growth -1.4pp or roughly USD230bn of direct impact, on top of the immobilization in the Suez Canal.

The Hotel California effect – How the European hospitality sector is looking for people who stay

The Covid-19 pandemic cost the European accommodation industry EUR115bn in lost turnover in 2020 following stringent restrictions on leisure and business travel. A stronger summer season helped France and Germany see annual turnover slide by “only” -43% and -44%  compared to -53%, -61% and -64% for the UK, Italy and Spain, respectively.