.
Are we heading for recession?
We consider some recent macro data to rate the chances
The global economy has grown slowly since the financial crash of 2008, but it has grown consistently to recover lost production. Even in the UK, the government was recently pleased to announce that workers’ average wages have now recovered to their 2008 levels after a decade of austerity. Applause from the housing estates of manufacturing towns was muted. Stock markets around the world have been hitting high notes, fattening the pensions of workers and building the bonuses of investment managers. Even dry and wet bulk shipping enjoyed some profits in 2018 and 2019. But there are signs of weakness even before we think about Covid-19, as the WHO has baptised the coronavirus.
Starting in China, the automobile market offers a reliable indicator of consumer activity and in January car sales were down again. GM, the US manufacturer which relies on China for two-fifths of its sales, reported that January new car sales were down 40…..click here to keep readingÂ
|
||||||||
|
