Macroeconomic and financial forecasts - May 2017

MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK

• United States: despite some disappointing figures early on in the year, the recovery remains solid and the labour market continues to improve, Core inflation is still below the Fed’s target. The White House announced that it would present its proposed budget blueprint to Congress in early May. From a macroeconomic standpoint, the bias is to the upside (growth, inflation) and the theme of protectionism has been dialled back. However, we should still be prepared for some disappointments because Donald Trump will fi nd it tough to follow through with most of his promises on tax reform.
• Japan:  investment rebounded in Q4, reversing the trend seen in the first three quarters of 2016. The BoJ’s quarterly Tankan index indicates solid growth in Q1. Additionally, fiscal policy remains a key growth driver. The BoJ’s policy is enabling accommodative monetary conditions to remain in place.
• Eurozone: the recovery is strengthening. Sentiment is at its strongest level since 2011, indicating that the economy strengthened in Q1 with monetary conditions remaining accommodative despite the rise in interest rates. However, political risks (France, Germany and Italy) remain the region’s weak link. Keep watching.
• Brazil:  Q4’s GDP figure came out at -2.5% yoy, compared to -2.9% in Q3. Brazil’s economy was hit by another major recession in 2016 (-3.4%). Growth carryover for 2017 remains substantially negative (-1.1%). As such, we continue to forecast a 0.5% recession in 2017.
• Russia: Q4 GDP was positive at +0.3% yoy. Overall, in 2016, the country suffered a 0.2% recession, which was less severe than in our scenario (-0.7%). We should point out that the Russian statistics institute revised its GDP figures. As such, in 2015, the recession would have been only 2.8% compared to 3.7% previously estimated. We are maintaining our scenario of a return to positive growth of +1% for 2017.

KEY INTEREST RATE OUTLOOK

• FED:  the Fed raised the fed funds target to 0.75-1.00% in March. The Fed should hike two other times in 2017. The issue of the normalization of the balance sheet is now clearly on the table.
• ECB: the ECB extended its QE until December 2017 at a reduced pace (€60bn/ month). Few concrete changes have to be expected until an acceleration of the core inflation is not observed. The communication will be gradually less dovish.

• BoJ: she will stick to its Yield Curve Control (YCC) policy and should not change its rate targets.
• BoE: the BoE will not hike its rate if the economic situation worsens.