Is stimulus still needed in a growing global economy?

by Kristina Hooper, Global Market Strategist, Invesco Ltd., Invesco Canada

More signs emerged last week that we are in the throes of a synchronized global economic recovery, with emerging markets and developed markets seeing improved economic growth. As the Trump administration works to pass its tax reform package, I expect the debate over economic stimulus to accelerate. Is it still needed in a growing economy?

Growth is picking up around the world

In emerging markets, a number of countries are seeing improved growth expectations. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) revised its expectations for growth in China up to 6.8% for 2017. Russia is benefiting from greater demand for oil, while Brazil is benefiting from monetary policy easing. India is a longer-term story, as it is poised to experience improved growth after reforms such as de-monetization and the implementation of a goods and services tax. As mentioned in The Economist last week, 21 countries in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index have already reported second-quarter gross domestic product GDP growth ā€” and all of them experienced improvement over the first quarter.

Developed markets are also participating in the improved growth environment. The OECD has projected that the euro area will grow by 2.1% in 2017, which is up from previous estimates. The same is true for Japan and Canada; the OECD growth estimate for Japan for 2017 was revised slightly upward to 1.6%, and the growth estimate for Canada for 2017 was revised up significantly to 3.2%. Even Greece is experiencing solid growth at a level not seen since 2008. In fact, global GDP growth was revised slightly upward in September by the OECD. It is now projected to rise to approximately 3.5% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018. The OECD Interim Economic Outlook explained, ā€œThe upturn has become more synchronized across countries.ā€ And this momentum is likely to continue given positive sentiment as seen in purchasing managersā€™ surveys.

This global growth recovery is helping US companies that have exposure to international business. According to FactSet Research Systems, companies that derive more than 50% of sales from outside the US are expected to have an earnings growth rate of 7.9% in the third quarter, while companies that derive less than 50% of sales from outside the US are expected to experience a slight earnings decline (specifically, -0.1%) in the third quarter.1 This is a result of improved global growth as well as a weaker US dollar.

Protectionism could threaten global growth

So what can derail this growth train? The biggest threat is arguably protectionism, which is often an outgrowth of nationalism and even regionalism. We have seen this phenomenon grow in spades in the past year. It made a big splash with the Brexit vote and has not abated since. Economic nationalism helped deliver the US presidency to Donald Trump, while regionalism enabled Catalonia to prevail in its independence vote from Spain last week.

Not only can movements like Cataloniaā€™s create instability and uncertainty ā€” the 10-year Spanish bond rose from 1.59% on Sept. 29 to 1.76% by Oct. 4 ā€” but they can also result in barriers to free trade.2 Therefore, we will want to follow developments on this front closely since there could be more nationalism/regionalism on the horizon with secessionist movements active in Scotland, the Kurdish region of Iraq, Flanders, Quebec, and the Basque region of Spain.

Monetary tightening could also threaten growth

Another factor that could derail this recovery is the withdrawal of monetary policy support too quickly. As part of normalization, there needs to be a careful handoff from monetary policy to fiscal policy as the primary policy tool. And that is an important reason why the proposed comprehensive tax reform package in the US deserves scrutiny as the negotiating process begins in Congress. I expect a lot of horse-trading and bartering as the Trump administration works to gain enough support to see it passed. As the bill takes shape, it is worth asking whether each of its provisions will be fiscally stimulative ā€” and, if so, whether the economy needs such stimulus.

Helping in this assessment may be a study just published by the International Monetary Fund on fiscal stimulus.3 It shows that fiscal stimulus can have a ā€œspillover effectā€ in other countries ā€” however its impact is dependent on a variety of factors. For example, the spillover effect tends to be low when a fiscal shock originates from a country whose economy is showing strength. However, the spillover effect is typically higher ā€œwhen a source or recipient country is in recession and/or benefiting from accommodative monetary policy.ā€ The IMF research also shows that spillover effects from government spending shocks are typically more impactful than those associated with tax shocks. We will want to consider this research as we ponder the different elements of the tax bill being negotiated by Congress. Having said that, we will also want to ensure that fiscal stimulus does not create an overshooting of inflation targets.

Key takeaways

This growth reminds us that we must always be vigilant about risks to the downside and the upside, which is why I believe that broad diversification is so important. We must also be mindful of inflation and the effect it can have on portfolios (after all, we did see significant wage growth in the aberrant US jobs report for September). This may include exposure to asset classes and sub-asset classes that have historically held up well to inflation, such as inflation-protected securities, commodities and dividend-paying stocks.

Subscribe to the Invesco US Blog and get Kristina Hooperā€™s Weekly Market Reviews in your inbox. Simply choose ā€œMarket & Economicā€ when you sign up.

1 Source: FactSet Earnings Insight, Oct. 6, 2017

2 Source for Spanish bond data: FactSet Research Systems

3 Source: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook, October 2017. Chapter 4: ā€œCross-Border Impacts of Fiscal Policy: Still Relevant?ā€

Important information

Blog header image: Bacho/Shutterstock.com

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is an unmanaged index considered representative of stocks of developing countries.

Diversification does not guarantee a profit or eliminate the risk of loss.

The reflation trade refers to the practice of investors looking to buy value and cyclical stocks in an effort to benefit from periods of strengthening economic growth, rising inflationary pressures and increasing interest rates.

Inflation-indexed securities generally fluctuate in response to changes in real interest rates, and the fundā€™s income from its investments in these securities is likely to fluctuate considerably more than income distributions on its investments in more traditional fixed-income securities.

Commodities may subject an investor to greater volatility than traditional securities such as stocks and bonds and can fluctuate significantly based on weather, political, tax, and other regulatory and market developments.

Securities that pay high dividends as a group can fall out of favor with the market, causing such companies to underperform companies that do not pay high dividends. Also changes in the dividend policies of the companies and the capital resources available for such companiesā€™ dividend payments may affect the fund.

The opinions referenced above are those of Kristina Hooper as of Oct. 9, 2017. These comments should not be construed as recommendations, but as an illustration of broader themes. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions; there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations.

Kristina Hooper
Global Market Strategist

Kristina Hooper is the Global Market Strategist at Invesco. She has 21 years of investment industry experience.

Prior to joining Invesco, Ms. Hooper was the US investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors. Prior to Allianz, she held positions at PIMCO Funds, UBS (formerly PaineWebber) and MetLife. She has regularly been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters and other financial news publications. She was featured on the cover of the January 2015 issue of Kiplingerā€™s magazine, and has appeared regularly on CNBC and Reuters TV.

Ms. Hooper earned a BA degree, cum laude, from Wellesley College; a J.D. from Pace University School of Law, where she was a Trusteesā€™ Merit Scholar; an MBA in finance from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, where she was a teaching fellow in macroeconomics and organizational behavior; and a masterā€™s degree from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where she focused on labor economics.

Ms. Hooper holds the Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Certified Investment Management Analyst and Chartered Financial Consultant designations. She serves on the board of trustees of the Foundation for Financial Planning, which is the pro bono arm of the financial planning industry, and Hour Children.

 

Copyright Ā© Invesco Canada

Total
0
Shares
Previous Article

NETFLIX INC (NFLX) NASDAQ - Oct 10, 2017

Next Article

Are Investors Underestimating the Stock Market Rally?

Related Posts
Subscribe to AdvisorAnalyst.com notifications
Watch. Listen. Read. Raise your average.