Morgan Stanley with the note. Global headline inflation climbed to 6.7%Y in June vs 6.3%Y in May. Food and energy prices are still main drivers. Global FX depreciation against the US dollar does not help, we analyze the FX pass-through to headline inflation and identify the most-exposed economies. Global inflation is still increasing, and recent
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Why the West will beat China
Bloomberg has a very important story for Australia’s battery of China grovellers. It is this: China’s top leadership has grown increasingly frustrated with a years-long failure to develop semiconductors that can replace US circuitry, an embarrassment capped by a flurry of anti-graft probes into top industry officials and the $9 billion rescue of Tsinghua Unigroup.
More on war and interest rates
My own view is that this is wrong. I do not think that the Fed is done. It needs to short-circuit the stock market reflation for starters. Wage inflation is still strong and labour hoarding likely. But there is a deflation tsunami approaching from China, commods and the reverse bullwhip effect as inventories reverse. Whether
The end of the Great Moderation?
TSLombard with a note. This goes to whether today’s inflation breakout is structural or cyclical. I am still in the latter camp so think of this more as a few years of interlude as global energy rearranges itself without Russia than it is the end of the Great Moderation. Aussie households had better hope I’m
Global PMIs crater
Things to note include: Inventories to new orders ratio is a great leading indicator for profits. Yuk! The great goods deflation bust has begun. But, it has not yet reached employment so central banks will keep tightening. A global DM recession has begun and a trade shock is now coming to EM as destocking takes
Global inflation still climbing
Pandemic inflation has topped and is about to crash. But Ukraine war inflation is still flushing through the system. —————————————————————————————————————————————————– Global headline inflation is still increasing, at 6.3%Y in May vs 6.1%Y in April. Food and energy prices are driving the move. As we show, food and energy are key drivers of long-run inflation expectations
“Whatever it breaks” central banks steer globe into recession
TS Lombard has written a note arguing that the traditional inverse relationship between unemployment and prices – known as the Phillips Curve – has broken down across the world’s economies because authorities have lost control of inflation expectations. This, in turn, means the world’s central banks will adopt a paradigm of “whatever it breaks”, in
Rampant food inflation comes off the boil
According to JP Morgan, there are signs that rampant global food inflation – which has been running at multi-decade highs – is starting to ease, led by agriculture prices. JP Morgan’s model is pointing to “a big move down in consumer food inflation over the next six months”, which “would lower food’s contribution to headline
The dreaded “wage-price” spiral is an historical artifact
TS Lombard has written a note (below) downplaying concerns of a 1970s-style “wage-price” spiral, suggesting it is an historical artifact that won’t be repeated in “the modern, globalized, high-tech economy, where workers and individual firms have much less bargaining power”. I wholeheartedly agree. In Australia’s case, centralised wage fixing was abolished and workers have never
“Financial demand destruction” routs commodity bubble
TS Lombard argues that receding central bank liquidity, coupled with intensifying concerns over a global recession, is behind the routing of commodity markets. ____________________________________________________________________________ Commodities looked like the only game in town earlier this year as investors sought protection from higher inflation. Receding central bank liquidity, coupled with intensifying concerns over a global recession, is
Oils ain’t oils when its Iranian via China oil
What’s really going on in the oil market in the wake of the failed invasion of Ukraine by Russia that has jolted energy prices around the world? The pressure stretches around the globe when it comes to oil and the US petrodollar, with Iran now clearly in the crosshairs for a sweetened nuclear deal. From
World economy moves from late cycle into recession
Sobering but very clear reading from the latest mid year outlook report by Capital Group, the near $3 trillion funds management firm. President Rob Lovelace has an interesting take on the trajectory of the global economy: We are living through a pivotal time in history, marked by geopolitical realignment, high inflation, volatile financial markets and
Oil price collapses on global recession fears
Oil prices crashed overnight, with Brent down more than 10% from the morning highs on mounting global recession fears. However, Goldman Sachs believes oil’s fundamentals remain sound. ___________________________________________________________________________ Oil prices collapsed today, with Brent down more than 10% from the morning highs. We view this move as driven by growing recession fears in the face
Debunking fertility rate paranoia
A certain type of person loves to obsess over an arbitrary point of “fertility falling below replacement” as if that is the point of no return for population collapse. The world’s richest man is worried that there aren’t enough humans. I’ve noticed that many other people obsess over the idea that birth rates declining is
Recession cracks spread
The Market Ear with more recession cracks. — Winter IS coming Robin Brooks: “Global recession is coming. Longer-term real US interest rates have kept rising and financial conditions have kept tightening, even as recession worries have grown more acute. So the automatic stabilizer for the economy – that real rates stop rising – hasn’t kicked
BOJ won’t break
The last deflationist standing is not going to fall unless something changes. Pantheon has the note. — Japanese CPI inflation was unchanged in May, at 2.5% year-over-year, the second month above the BoJ’s 2% target. We now expect inflation to remain above target for the rest of the year, thanks to the ongoing weakness in
Global PMIs break
A wrap from Goldman. The deflation shock begins. — DM trends: The DM composite flash PMI decreased by -1.8pt in June to 51.9 on a steep deceleration in services (-2.9pt to 52.5) and broad-based moderation in manufacturing (-1.6pt to 52.5). Country-level trends: The manufacturing flash PMI decreased sharply in the US (-4.5pt to 52.4) and
BOJ Brrrrrr
TSLombard this time. I personally think that the Fed will pivot before the BOJ breaks. — BoJ says no. Pressure has been rising on the Bank of Japan to tweak its yield curve control (YCC) policy and abandon the “weak yen is good” rhetoric against a backdrop of soaring DM interest rates and intensifying pressure
Albert Edwards: Hard landing dead ahead
I have been at this point in the credit and economic cycle many times in my career and certain things always seem familiar. First the inversion of the yield curve, which is dismissed as a predictor of recession, despite its reliability. Then slightly later, as the economic data slows decidedly, the chorus of economists claiming
Capital has already won the inflation war
FT Alphaville has published an enlightening article that helps to explain why wages globally have failed to lift amid tight labour markets and low unemployment. Author Robert Lucas concludes that capital has already won the class war over labour, which means that inflation will necessarily subside once supply shocks unwind. In turn, the world’s central
World Bank warns of 1970s-style stagflation
The World Bank has released its Global Economic Prospects report, which has downgraded its global economic growth forecast for 2022 from 4.1% to just 2.9% in the wake of the fallout from invasion of Ukraine. World Bank president David Malpass has warned of the potential for 1970s-style stagflation, and he has raised the prospect that