Franck Dixmier, Global CIO Fixed Income (Allianz GI) | Investors could be forgiven for thinking they have been here before. As the clock ticks down on the US debt limit deadline, markets are once again getting familiar with the intricacies of US politics. In what has become a semi-regular partisan wrangle, politicians in Washington are in talks over raising the federal debt limit before June, the month when the government…
Alicia García herrero (Natixis) | During the past fifteen months after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, China and Russia’s trade value increased by 36.5% compared to pre-war levels, showing their much-enhanced ties in merchandise trade. Meanwhile, in addition to the upswing of the headline amount, some new patterns in their trade structure are also worth watching. For example, Russia has moved up rapidly in the rank of China’s external…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | The strategic competition between the US and China started in early 2018 when the Trump administration implemented untargeted import tariffs and reoriented most of its trade efforts towards widening the technology gap between China and the US with a special focus on deep tech, such as semiconductors. The Biden administration has pushed even further in that direction. However, one should not forget that well before…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | Almost a decade has passed since President Xi Jinping announced the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), originally titled ‘One Belt One Road’. The BRI has since expanded into one of China’s most important tools for the build-up of soft power and the implementation of its overseas activities (Dadabaev, 2018). Simultaneously, however, the initiative has attracted controversy in the international media, particularly after…
Alphavalue / Divacons | Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced the nationalisation of the lithium industry, especially important for electric car batteries. State-owned Codelco will determine investments and exploitation by private companies. Chile is the largest producer of lithium. While it is claimed that this will not affect current contracts, it is a stark reminder of the insecurities for mining companies, and not only in Chile.
Analysts at Picodi.com have counted how many years it would take people living in different countries and earning the average national salary to earn €1 million. The analysis shows that if we add up all the net payments received by an average employee, a resident of Switzerland will earn his first million euros the fastest: in 15 years and two months, while in Singapore the time is 18 years and…
Santander | It is one of the first headlines from last night’s FOMC minutes. Fed staff members go from assigning a near 50% probability, to now forecasting a mild recession. With the Fed also nearing the end of the cycle, it is no surprise that some dissenting voices are beginning to appear, opening the door to new bouts of volatility that have not favoured the credit market (MOVE/Main correlation of…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is currently in Beijing with a huge official and business delegation. His goals are clear: first and foremost, bringing growth opportunities to Brazil, whose economy has been battered by the Covid pandemic. Brazilian exports of commodities into China have ballooned since Beijing’s fiscal binge in 2008 that led to pent-up demand for commodities. More recently, Brazil’s large lithium reserves,…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | China’s so-called Two Sessions, the country’s most important annual political gathering, marked a transition this year. Held in early March, it included the final work report – or summary of government business – delivered by outgoing Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, who after two five-year terms as China’s prime minister, handed over to Li Qiang. Against this backdrop, Li Keqiang’s 2023 work report was blissfully short,…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | Against the backdrop of the recent reopening after three years of zero-Covid policies, the Chinese government, in the last government report of Prime Minister Li Keqiang during the Two Sessions, has set a GDP growth target of around 5% in 2023. Such a target is lower than our growth forecast of 5.5% for 2023, and lower than last year’s government target (5.5%). This is somewhat…