The Main recent economic news.
Equity indices, Currencies & commodities, and Bond markets.
The deficit on the trade in goods published by the French Customs authorities on 7 February is likely to have been EUR83 billion for 2024, from EUR100 billion in 2023 (but EUR58 billion in 2019). The improvement in the nominal deficit hides the fall in goods exports. However, the improvement in the balance in volume terms and the strength of services exports are positive factors.
The impulse of bank lending to the private sector continued to recover in the Eurozone in Q4 2024 (1.5 after between 1.1 and 1.2 since September 2024). It was back in positive territory since August (0.8), and in December 2024 it reached its highest level since November 2022 (2.7). The ECB bank lending survey in the Eurozone confirms the recovery in the demand for loans in Q4 2024. However, political uncertainties have resulted in a tightening of credit standards for lending to companies in France and Germany.
Central European countries are relatively well-positioned in industrial sectors with high technological content. However, there are differences, with regards to the respective percentages of tech products in value added and in manufacturing sector exports. The share of the high-tech sector, consisting of only three segments in the sector approach (pharmaceuticals, IT/electronics/optical and air/spacecraft), is relatively modest, but the percentage of “medium-high-technology” sector (chemicals, weapons, electrical equipment, machinery, motor vehicles, other vehicles, medical devices) is high. However, these two sectors are also very technology-intensive
The first FOMC meeting of 2025 (28-29 January) should result in the target rate being held at +4.25% - +4.5%. In our view, this would mark the beginning of a pause lasting until mid-2026, due to the anticipated pick-up in inflation that would result from Donald Trump's economic policy.
According to our forecast, French growth reached 0.1% q/q in Q4 2024, boosted by some favourable sector-based factors (aviation and electricity production). However, overall economic momentum continues to slow, including corporate investment perspectives, impacting the labour market.
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On 20 January 2025, Donald Trump once again became President of the United States. With a ‘clear mandate’, the Republican intends to harness his victory by addressing his favourite issues. His return to the Oval Office comes at a time when the dollar is witnessing one of the biggest rallies in history. The real effective exchange rate of the greenback is now at a comparable level to the one which led to the Plaza Accord of 1985, and its appreciation has a high likelihood of continuing. This trend is likely to frustrate the new President, who is keen to denounce weak currencies as penalising US industry
“Not all died, but all were stricken”. While the Covid-19 pandemic spared no one, its consequences, particularly on the budgetary front, were not the same for everyone.
The global economy faces a long list of uncertainties -growth, inflation, interest rates, political, geopolitical, tariffs, etc. When uncertainty is exceptionally high, as is the case today, the economic environment becomes intrinsically unstable and may evolve suddenly and drastically. This acts as an economic headwind because companies that are highly exposed to these sources of uncertainty may postpone investment and hiring decisions. This may weigh on household confidence, triggering a reduction in discretionary spending. Financial markets may also become more volatile because investors shorten their investment horizon. There is a clear urgency of creating a predictable policy environment.
While in most major advanced economies the year-on-year growth in nominal wages has been back above inflation for a few months now, we can ask ourselves where households’ purchasing power stands compared to its pre-inflationary crisis level. This purchasing power can be measured in two ways: in the broad sense and more accurately, when it is calculated on the basis of the real gross disposable income (GDI) of households; and in a narrower sense, but perhaps more meaningful for households, when it is assessed on the basis of real wages.
Will 2025 fulfil all the good wishes being exchanged across the globe as these lines are being written? Probably not, sadly. But narrowing it down to the field of global economics, I see five critical questions that will determine how good 2025 will turn out.
While the Bank of England's (BoE) decision to keep its key rates unchanged at 4.75% on December 19th was in line with market expectations, the vote by three MPC members in favour of a 25 basis point cut was less so. This week, which has had a wealth of economic indicators in the UK, will certainly have shifted the lines, between rising inflation in November and heightened fears that an overly restrictive monetary policy could derail the economic recovery. Indeed, the BoE has revised its growth forecast for Q4 downwards, from 0.3% to 0.0%.
The Fed ended the year with a reduction in its target rate (-25 bp), which now stands at +4.25% to +4.5%. Meanwhile, median expectations by committee members of the number of cuts fell from four to two for 2025. The response from the financial markets was abrupt.
