Global Economy

According to the latest readings, conditions became even worse in May.

Governments need to create dedicated restructuring agencies to get business through the Covid-19 crisis, argue turnaround experts Jay Alix and Richard Gitlin.

Spending data from Sweden and Denmark signals a surprisingly small gap in consumer spending

The Eurozone needs to soften its rules and accept high-yield debt as collateral – its mandate clearly allows it.

Despite the pandemic highlighting their flaws, we don’t think it’s time to scrap global value chains.

Policymakers need to understand that lockdown losses are likely to be permanent not temporary.

Official data will show prices falling drastically but might not be a fair reflection of what’s really going on.

As corporate insolvencies soar and firms try to hang on to their cash as long as possible, expect to hear a lot more about trade credit insurance.

Now is not the time to be starving a country of capital.

Is it just about the number of dead? Or is it something deeper: making sure we live in a society we don’t feel ashamed of? 

Here’s the economic case for it, and the risks. 

From bail-inable private sector capital to mandated reserves of essential goods, there’s a lot regulators can do to ensure economies can better cope with Covid-19 style shocks in the future.

A European Coronabond is being widely touted. But issuing it entails some massive political choices, argues Lorenzo Bini Smaghi. 

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Beyond that, we’re dealing with a lot of unknowns. 

Central banks are supposed to offer counter-cyclical support in times of crisis. Macrofinance expert Daniela Gabor argues that when it comes to dollar swap facilities, central banks’ obsession with market discipline undermines that support.

Prepare for negative prices in some markets in the near term, but an inflationary oil shock in the aftermath.

It’s not just individuals who are in urgent need of debt moratoriums during the coronavirus. Some sovereign countries will need them too.

Redundant childminders and nannies could offer vital support to key worker families and ease the pressure on skeleton schools and nurseries. 

A proposal.

The bull who called the bottom in 2008 speaks on a topic almost no-one is focusing on.

Quick thinks: what happens when there’s no more storage available?

Act now and consider the future.

This time it’s not because money market dislocations are rippling into the real economy, but because the real world is rippling into the financial system.

They help. But there’s some big drawbacks here too such as the risk of the PBoC repo-ing its entire Treasury portfolio for cash.

New York manufacturers signal the worst outlook since 2009 in latest survey.

Was it as bad as markets thought? 

Time to mull the economic consequences of the disease.