Living on with a Covid-19 hum

Stop-and-go containment measures confirm a return to normal in 2022. After strong post-lockdown catch-up effects, we expect the recovery to slow in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 as distancing measures tighten again and ongoing job shedding keeps spend-ing and investment in check.

 

Allianz Global Wealth Report 2020

Never in the last ten years were we able to report such a big increase in wealth: Worldwide, gross financial assets[1] grew by 9.7% in 2019, clocking the strongest growth since 2005.

Eurodollar: Lost in translation?

 

After its peak on 20 March 2020, the USD has depreciated 10% against the EUR (1.174 as of 21 September 2020), going back to levels last seen in mid-2018. This rapid depreciation has raised many questions about the future of the dollar. 

 

The big compression: The erosion of duration risk

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the debt-to-GDP ratio in advanced economies will rise to an all-time high of 130% of GDP this year. At the same time, long-term interest rates are at an all-time low. 

 

Stimulus packages: German 'Wumms' vs. French 'Relance' - who does it better?

To boost growth after the Covid-19 fallout, Germany and France have introduced large stimulus packages which in terms of magnitude are playing in the same league. Digging below the surface however unveils deeply diverging approaches to boost the recovery.

 

 

Average inflation targeting: The US Fed buys two years of respite

At its meeting on 16 September, the last before the election, the U.S. Federal Reserve confirmed our expectations that it will keep rates at 0% into 2023, and let inflation run higher than 2% for an extended period. 

 

Back to School: When the tech bubble hisses

A back-to-school tech-led sell-off. As if markets wanted to remind everyone the risks of interpreting stock market movements, major U.S. equity indices had a hard day on 03 September: the S&P 500 fell by 3.51%, the NASDAQ by 4.96% and the NASDAQ 100 by 5.23% over the day. Through this correction, markets have rekindled a long-standing question about the nature of the rally that resumed in March: Is it a bubble or not?

 

 

Quantative Easing in Emerging Markets: Playing with fire?

The Covid-19 pandemic marked a turning point for ‘unconventional’ monetary policies in Emerging Markets (EMs), several of which embarked on government bond purchase programs to address market dislocations and ease monetary conditions in the short run.

 

ECB: Talking the Talk, Before Walking the Walk in December

The spreads have been closed but the ECB’s job is nowhere near done yet: Tomorrow’s policy meeting will be all about cues for the ECB’s game plan to tackle mounting deflation risks and a strong euro in the context of an uncertain economic recovery. As if the ECB did not already have enough on its plate with the unprecedented Covid-19-related growth shock, which led to the announcement of additional asset purchases to the tune of EUR1,350bn, it will now need to decide how to deal with two additional headaches to its growing list of worries.