Perspectives Pictet

The market implications of Emmanuel Macron’s win are likely to prove positive but short lived as the focus will quickly shift to the legislative elections in June.The first round of the French presidential election has come as a relief for markets as a pro-European, reformist candidate came first and now looks very likely to win the second round. For once, opinion polls were fairly accurate in capturing voting intentions and last-minute momentum. But the result of the first round is not...

Strong Flash PMI surveys for April indicate that output growth is accelerating in the euro area.Euro area PMI surveys surprised to the upside in April. The composite flash PMI surged to 56.7 in April from 56.4 in March, above consensus expectations (56.4). Overall, April’s composite PMI is consistent with euro area GDP growth of 0.7% quarter over quarter (q-o-q) in Q2, up from 0.6% in Q1 and higher than our forecasts. Other national surveys and hard data have been more mixed, suggesting that...

While our central scenario discounts the possibility of Marine Le Pen becoming president, her presence in the second round of the presidential election is likely to create considerable nervousness for investors.Our main scenario, a win for a Europhile politician in the second round of the French presidential elections in May, could result in a small relief rally on markets. However, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen is seen as being one of the two candidates to go through from the first...

Shale oil has forced the conventional oil industry to reinvent itself. Companies have nevertheless demonstrated terrific powers of adaptation, helped by the high-tech nature of the oil industry.In a ‘lower-for-longer price’ environment, there are still attractive themes and equity stories to play, assuming prices remain broadly above USD45-50 per barrel. Valuations generally remain reasonable, especially on the back of the correction since the start of the year. The growth theme is clearly...

Pictet Wealth Management’s latest positioning in fast-evolving markets. Asset allocationThe first quarter was exceptionally strong for risk assets, and the outlook remains good for developed market (DM) equities.We remain comfortable with our overweight in developed market equities, but it would be wise not to take too much risk in the coming quarter.EM assets may offer attractive opportunities on a tactical basis.CurrenciesThe US dollar probably has only limited further upside, absent a...

Job growth was strong in the first quarter as a whole, however, and latest numbers may not lead Fed to change its overall assessment of the economic outlook.Non-farm payrolls increased by 98,000 m-o-m in March, well below consensus expectations (180,000). Adverse weather conditions likely weighed on the aggregate numbers. Moreover, job creation averaged 177,000 in Q1 2017, above the Q4 average of 147,000.Importantly, the US unemployment rate fell to a new cycle low of 4.5% in March, from...

A new development zone south of Beijing could turn out to be the most important domestic infrastructure project in China in the decade to come and lead to large-scale economic change.At the beginning of April, the Chinese government caught people by surprise by unveiling plans to create the Xiong’an New Area, a new development zone about 130 kilometres south of Beijing. According to the announcement, the first phase of development will cover an area of 100 square kilometres, with long-term...

Risk assets had an exceptionally strong first quarter, but a repeat performance will require overcoming numerous obstacles.The first quarter was an exceptional one for risk assets—so exceptional that it is difficult to see how their performance can be repeated in the present quarter without some strong catalysts. According to our analysis, annualised returns on equities in the first quarter were up to three times higher than their historic average in the case of developed-market equities,...

The latest confidence surveys in the euro area have been remarkably strong, adding upside risks to our GDP forecasts, but meaning that the ECB will have to tread carefully.Recent composite purchasing manager surveys for the euro area are consistent with a growth rate of about 0.7% q-o-q in Q1, above our projection of 0.4%, and are pointing to similar levels of growth in Q2. More generally, ‘soft’ survey data and ‘hard’ activity data have been diverging significantly of late, with large...

PMI data in China has continued to move higher, meaning the near-term outlook is strong, but tighter controls on the property sector and on monetary policy point to a slowdown in the second half.The official PMI figures for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing rose again in March, extending a rebound that has been evident since early 2016. Sub-indices also remain on a solid upward trend, with the production and new order sub-indices reaching their highest levels since mid-2014 and the new...