“The record oil-price surge after a strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility couldn’t come at a worse time for a world economy already in the grip of a deepening downturn.
“While the severity will depend on how long the price spike endures, the development will further erode business and consumer confidence that already are fragile amid the U.S.-China trade dispute and slowing global demand. A manufacturing slump around the world is hammering growth in export powerhouses China and Germany.
““A negative supply shock like this, when global growth is in a synchronized slowdown with many geopolitical hotspots simmering, is just what we don’t need,” said Rob Subbaraman, head of global macro research at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Singapore.
“The oil shock comes amid a flurry of warning signs for the global economy…”
“Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation is under threat from the kingdom’s ballooning debt pile as recession worries strike bond markets, economists have warned.
“Emerging markets enter the latest global downturn “in an even more precarious state of solvency”, with public finances in the kingdom and South Africa most under threat, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch.”
“The first exit polls in Tunisia’s presidential elections suggest a shock victory for two political outsiders, law professor Kaïs Saïed and media mogul Nabil Karoui, who is on remand in prison on corruption charges he denies.
“The early results indicate that faced with widespread disillusion over the country’s progress in the past eight years since its revolution…”
“EU officials have rejected Boris Johnson’s claim that “a huge amount of progress” is being made in Brexit talks, as Jean-Claude Juncker warned that time is running out.
“Juncker, who will stand down as European commission president on 31 October, is expected to ask Johnson to spell out his ideas for replacing the Irish backstop when the pair meet over lunch in Luxembourg on Monday.”
“Brexit uncertainty and a global economic slowdown amid the US-China trade war has set Britain on course for the most prolonged slump in business investment in 17 years, according to the British Chambers of Commerce…”
“The slowdown in China’s economy deepened in August, with industrial production growing at its weakest pace in 17-1/2 years amid rising U.S. trade pressure and softening domestic demand.
“Retail sales and investment gauges also worsened, data on Monday showed, reinforcing views that China is likely to cut some of its key interest rates this week…”
“Police in Hong Kong have used water cannon and tear gas against protesters throwing petrol bombs and bricks near government offices in the city. The violence broke out after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators marched, despite being denied a police permit…
“Earlier hundreds rallied outside the British Consulate, demanding the UK press China to maintain freedoms guaranteed during the 1997 handover.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49705988
“About 48,000 members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike early Monday as contract talks with General Motors broke down. Union members walked out of factories and set up picket lines at 33 plants across the nation as well as 22 parts warehouses.
“The strike, depending on its length, could easily cost GM hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“Emerging market central banks have turned more dovish than at any point since at least the global financial crisis…
“…according to analysis of the language in 4,000 monetary policy publications.”
https://www.ft.com/content/111d9ec2-d60e-11e9-8367-807ebd53ab77
“The global economy is slumping as the trade war infects nations across the world, putting growth this year and next year on track to slide to its worst performance since 2009, at the height of the financial crisis.
“US growth is slipping, China’s expansion will fall to its weakest pace in decades, and the eurozone will spend 2020 on ‘the brink of recession’, investment banks warned as they slashed forecasts for almost every economy.”
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