World heads into w-shaped depression

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Via Capital Economics:

Hard data for May generally revealed sharp improvements in activity, particularly retail spending, albeit not to pre-virus levels. This led us to revise our forecasts for several economies including the US, UK and euro-zone, where we now expect falls in Q2 GDP to be less steep than we initially envisaged. However, renewed coronavirus outbreaks in some parts of the world have added to reasons to expect the recovery to slow in the months ahead. Indeed, timely indicators including restaurant reservations suggest that increased consumer caution is already taking a toll. (See Chart 1.) The previous upward trend in the US seems to have stalled, due partly but not entirely to developments in the affected southern and western states. Meanwhile, even the relatively small and localised outbreak in Australia has seen bookings there nose-dive.

On the demand side:

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.