Strategy 2025: Pivoting from Trump 2.0 Trades?

In my Strategy 2024 blog entitled "Powell Pivot: What Could Go Wrong or Right?", I suggested global financial markets had entered a cyclical sweet spot. Specifically, the combination of steady (if uneven) global growth, declining inflation, and easing monetary conditions pointed to higher equity market valuations. Indeed, even my bullish S&P 500 projection of 5,800 [...]

Election 2024 Edition #4: It’s the Economy…..

28 October 2024 The US Presidential election is in nearly here, at last. In recent weeks, we have discussed key topics receiving insufficient attention during the bruising campaign: looming fiscal crises, international trade policy, and climate change. In 1992, James Carville famously reminded us the economy is usually the most important determinant of American election [...]

Global Government Debt: Balloon Still Expanding

Government efforts to mitigate the economic consequences of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the Covid pandemic have led to surging government debt. In the United States, for instance, public sector liabilities are approaching levels not seen before in peacetime (Chart above). And, while I will discuss important differences between countries and regions, the United [...]

Can Turkey Get Back on Track?

12 May 2024 Turkey has long been a classic boom-bust economy. Indeed, the volatility of Turkish GDP growth is higher than most comparable Emerging market and advanced economies (next Chart). In addition, while the global economy has experienced two episodes of negative GDP growth since 1980, Turkey has endured five recessions. In my March 2021 [...]