Trade war and Italian budget won't derail rosy outlook

The US economy continues to be in very good shape. This was the message delivered by the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the end of August: he sees a robust US economy and positive momentum, expecting the strong performance to continue.

Regarding inflation - which is nearing the Fed's 2% target - there is ‘no clear sign' it is accelerating. In the euro area, the slowdown in the first part of the year was more to do with an adjustment of growth from above-trend levels (+2.7% in Q4 2017) to more normalised and sustainable levels.  After a few months of lower prints, the business sentiment has bounced back, as illustrated by the latest survey of the IFO in Germany, published in late August. Hong Kong stocks fall as Trump hits China with $200bn tariffs We do not see now US trade disputes or the Italian budget derai...