The CIO office’s view of the week ahead.A new list of US tariffs was unveiled last week. These tariffs, which could be implemented in September, will undoubtedly trigger countermeasures by the Chinese. But markets chose to look past these tensions to a US economy that still appears robust. Consumer and corporate confidence remain high and Q2 GDP growth is likely to be in the vicinity of 4%. In spite of an increasingly tight labour market, underlying inflation remains tame, while the US economy should be able to deal with a gradually less accommodative Fed. Last week, market participants started to turn their attention to quarterly results, with the first slew greeted positively. We expect earnings growth to continue to support markets in the near term.However, while trade deals could well

Read More »