Movement
It has been a week full of political movements and stock markets managed to regain ground lost over the previous week.
Deutschland 1 – Rest of the World 1 (German win on penalties?)
Both brexiteers and remainers agree that the UK’s exit from the EU will have a big economic impact. So, mitigating the potential negative effects will depend as much on the direct engagement of our EU partners (and their own trade preferences etc.) as it will on the UK’s policy and the negotiation process.
Trump’s first sensible policy initiative?
This week President Trump resurrected his policy initiative for the tax reform that formed one of his key campaign pledges. While the 8-page framework document is by no means formulated legislation, it did grab the headlines with its corporate tax reform outline. Under the President’s plan, American companies will pay a tax rate of 20%, down greatly from the current 35% but still some way off the 15% that Trump had promised last year, although still much closer to the international average of 22.5%.
Macron adds vision to EU’s economic resurgence
French President Emmanuel Macron took to the stage in Paris this week to lay out his ambitious vision for the future of the European Union. It was widely expected that Macron, perhaps the staunchest Europhile among this generation’s leaders, would outline his plan for Eurozone reform. He did much more than that. The address spanned almost two hours, and covered every area of EU policy from agriculture to defence, mixing detailed policy suggestions with more abstract goals, all aimed at reinvigorating the push for European integration.
Oil – is ‘Lower for Longer’ over?
Investors should not have been surprised by oil’s resurgence this week. As the saying goes: ‘It’s the economy stupid’, and the underlying global economy appears to be increasingly in good shape, which is leading to strengthening demand for oil.
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