The signs of stabilisation seen at the beginning of the year have been followed by improvements in confidence surveys. The upturn in consumer confidence has been the most marked and the most encouraging of these. The rather more mixed nature of the economic data available tempers these positive signals somewhat, and leads us to forecast stable growth in Q2, at 0.3% q/q, making this the sixth quarter in a row to see growth at around this pace. This stability, which is remarkable in and of itself, is likely to continue over the coming quarters according to our forecasts. It is a good sign of the resistance of French growth to downward pressures. Under our scenario, this resistance demonstrates a degree of effectiveness in the measures taken to support consumers and businesses.
In Q1 2019, Italy came out of recession. The overall scenario remained mixed. The GDP annual growth rate was negative. Imports strongly declined and exports slightly increased, with a positive contribution of net exports. Both households and firms remained cautious, postponing consumption and investment. Cyclical indicators suggest a disappointing evolution in coming months, making more challenging the fulfilment of public finance objectives. The Italian Government approved an update of the 2019 Budget, with the public deficit around 2% of GDP, reaching an agreement with the European Commission and avoiding the disciplinary procedure.
Spanish growth is still robust, but that does not mean it is totally immune to the European slowdown. Although growth is expected to slow this year, it should have no trouble holding above an average annual rate of 2%. After winning April’s legislative elections, Pedro Sanchez is still seeking a majority that would enable him to head the executive branch and form a new government. Spain officially exited the European excessive deficit procedure recently. Although a budget has not been formally adopted for 2019, the authorities are aiming for a primary surplus.
GDP growth is slowing due to the strong deceleration in global trade. Nevertheless, the economy continued to operate close to its potential until 1Q 2019 thanks to the strength of domestic demand, underpinned by strong disposable income growth and an expansionary fiscal policy. As the government has lost its majority in the Senate, it needs the cooperation of the opposition parties for passing new legislation. However, a government crisis is not imminent. Even if GDP growth is expected to slow below its potential in the coming quarters, public finance metrics will continue to improve up to 2020.
Over the next quarters economic growth will remain stable. Rising labour market capacity constraints and a lower contribution by net international trade are weighing on the overall outlook. With also uncertainties in the international (trade war, Brexit) and national (government formation talks) context unlikely to dissolve anytime soon, our base case is one of below potential growth up until 2020.
The economic recovery continues. Growth is accelerating and for the moment it has reached the lower range of expectations. After four and a half years in power, Alexis Tsipras passes on the helm to Kyriakos Mitzotakis, leader of the centre-right New Democracy party, which has led in the polls since 2016. The new Prime Minister is unlikely to call into question the prescribed public finance trajectory as the country exits the European financing programme.
Brexit has been behind thirty-seven resignations from the government responsible for managing the process, the latest being that of Prime Minister Theresa May herself. Having failed three times to get the Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament, she had little choice but to ask for an extension of the Article 50 period and then in the end to resign. The two candidates to take her place are the current Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and his predecessor, Boris Johnson. Whilst Mr Johnson claims he can negotiate a changed deal and trigger Brexit from 31 October 2019 (the latest deadline), Mr Hunt plans to seek more time in order to renegotiate to allow for an orderly exit.
The robust GDP growth reported in 2018 is bound to slow this year. Sweden’s main trading partners have been hit by slowdowns, which is having a negative impact on export momentum. The slowdown in job creations will also strain household consumption. Yet it is the reduction in residential investment that is expected to curtail economic activity sharply in the months ahead. Although inflation should near the central bank’s 2% target by the end of the year, monetary policy will probably remain accommodating in the months ahead due to the uncertainty surrounding economic trends.
Denmark’s small open economy is bound to be hit by the economic slowdown affecting its main trading partners in the quarters ahead. Household consumption will remain the main growth engine thanks to job creations, wage growth and mild inflation. With consumer prices up only 0.7% y/y in May, inflation should remain mild. The Danish economy is also expected to benefit from an accommodating monetary policy in the quarters ahead, although this will depend on the policy stance adopted by the European Central Bank (ECB).
A high level of uncertainty can act as a drag on growth. Whether monetary easing will succeed in boosting growth will depend on the nature of uncertainty. Endogenous uncertainty follows from the normal development of the business cycle and rate cuts should succeed in reducing this uncertainty by boosting confidence of economic agents. Exogenous uncertainty is not driven by the business cycle but is triggered by other factors, such as, in the current environment, ongoing trade disputes. In this case, monetary policy effectiveness suffers and, despite rate cuts, the growth slowdown should continue until its root cause (exogenous uncertainty) is addressed.
High levels of uncertainty can have a profound impact on economic activity and financial markets. Our Pulse presents different metrics.
The slowdown since the start of last year is of a different nature in France, where it has manifested itself in manufacturing and services, compared to Germany, where it is very much concentrated in the manufacturing sector. Recent data show a somewhat improving picture in France whereas in Germany signs of stabilisation remain tentative. Under the hypothesis that concerns about trade relations (US-China, US-Europe) and Brexit will not disappear anytime soon, it seems difficult to expect a significant improvement in the near term. France could however surprise positively on the back of the measures to support the purchasing power of households.
Today’s Pulse for Germany suggests that the economy is doing even less well than the already diminishing expectations. But on closer inspection, it does not look half so bad.
The INSEE has just developed a new graphical tool, a tracer of business confidence, that helps position the French economy within its cycle and track economic trends. The recent past is characterized by changes in the economic situation of limited magnitude but quickly evolving: the cyclical upturn in 2017 was followed by a slowdown as soon as 2018 before going back into the expansion zone since the start of 2019 but timidly so (close to the frontier with the “slowdown” quadrant). What stands out from this chart is therefore more the hesitant, “caught in-between”, feature of the current economic situation in France rather than its favorable (and resilient) aspect
Despite a quite good 1st quarter 2019 in terms of economic growth (+0.4% q/q), the latest economic indicators sent mixed signals. Worries about the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in the manufacturing sector remain despite its stabilization, at a low level, in June (47.8). In the services sector, the PMI seems to be unaffected by the manufacturing woes.
Prospects for the economic growth in Mexico are deteriorating, owing to slower economic activity in the US, a tight fiscal stance and a persistent weakness in private investment. Real GDP growth for Q1 slowed to 1.2% y/y, from 1.7% y/y in Q4 2018. For the whole year, real GDP growth should reach 1.5% (from 2.0% in 2018) and risks are tilted to the downside. On the one hand, trade tensions with the US (following the US President’s announcement to impose tariffs on Mexican imports) will have a detrimental effect on business sentiment, even if the two countries have so far reached an agreement
According to Mario Draghi, a key question is how long the rest of the economy can remain insulated from the weakness in the manufacturing sector. Historically, the purchasing manager indices for manufacturing and services have been highly correlated, which can be partly attributed to the important role of services in the value chain of the manufacturing sector. The future resilience of the services sector in the eurozone will very much depend on what happens in Germany where the gap between the PMIs of the two sectors is abnormally high.
Our pulse indicators are sending a clear positive signal. Only the composite PMI surprised on the downside (51.2) and is below trend.
The ECB has eased policy slightly, by extending its forward guidance on policy rates. On the other hand, the conditions on TLTRO III are slightly less generous than those on the previous operation. Importantly, a discussion has started within the Governing Council on how to react should the environment worsen. Understandably, given the eurozone fundamentals, the ECB is not yet in a hurry to react to the prolonged uncertainties. This is a matter of keeping its powder dry
In the United States, the tide hasn’t turned yet for consumers: on the positive side, our barometer points to low unemployment, strong consumer confidence and dynamic household revenues and spending. Inflation is also mild, which boosts purchasing power. Even so, the horizon is not all rosy. Positioned in the forefront of the economic cycle, industrial leaders report a decline in output, which was one of the barometer’s weakest scores in April, and their expectations did not pick up in May.
In a recent survey of 469 CFOs of US companies, 84% expect that the US will have entered recession by the first quarter of 2021. This raises the concern of self-realising bearish expectations. A positive correlation between business confidence and company decisions could reflect (anticipations of) strong fundamentals. It could also be due to animal spirits. The role of the latter is confirmed by empirical research by cesifo using data for German companies. In the aggregate, optimistic animal spirits have a bigger impact than pessimistic animal spirits.
After strengthening in February, credit impulse in the eurozone was relatively stable in March 2019 for households, but weakened slightly for non-financial companies. Demand for credit is expected to rise in the second quarter of 2019 across all loan categories. Although banks are planning to loosen conditions for consumer loans, they intend to tighten them slightly for home loans and business loans.
Survey data released this week provide mixed signals with an improvement of consumer confidence, a weakening of the ifo business climate index in Germany and a stabilisation of the INSEE indicator in France. The IHS Markit PMIs show a stabilisation in recent months in manufacturing, at a subdued to low level, and in services, at a more satisfactory level. Several drivers of domestic demand remain supportive. Nevertheless, unease remains, mainly for reasons on which the eurozone has no control and where the risk of further tariff increases is top of the list.
Over the past few months, the news flow for the German economy has definitely improved. Manufacturing output strengthened for the second consecutive month, although remaining well below last year’s level. Also industrial orders rose slightly, although falling short of market expectations. Even though consumer confidence slightly weakened April, it remained at a very high level.
Most leading economic indicators are in line, or even above, expectations. Activity in the manufacturing sector remains subdued, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) reaching only 47.9 in April. This poor performance is partially offset by the resilience of the PMI Services Index which is below its long-term average but still well above the 50 threshold (52.8 in April).