Friday, May 16, 2014

Christine Lagarde's concerns about eurozone deflation and the Ukraine crisis are shared by many investors, according to Bloomberg's latest survey.
Its Global Investors poll found "overwhelming concern" about deflation in the euro zone. About three-quarters of them say it’s a greater threat to the region than inflation.
They are also less optimism about the global economy. Here's a flavour:
Forty percent of respondents in the survey of Bloomberg customers say the global economy is improving, another 43 percent say it’s stable, and only 12 percent say it’s deteriorating.
Still, the enthusiasm has cooled: 59 percent thought the economy was improving in the last edition of the poll, in January; that was the highest reading since the world emerged from recession in 2009.
The survey also found that most investors fear the Russian economy is deteriorating, while half believe the eurozone is perking up.
More than seven in 10 of those polled say Russia’s economy is weakening, and 45% recommend selling Russian assets in light of the conflict in Ukraine
Bloomberg poll, May 12 2014
Photograph: Bloomberg Global Investors Poll

Bloomberg also found that French president Francois Hollande was the most unpopular politician, with just 11% saying they're optimistic about his policies. Putin followed close behind with an optimism vote of 15%, while Greece's Antonis Samaras secured 37%.
The most popular leader is Germany’s Angela Merkel, about whom 76 percent of respondents were optimistic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Euro sceptic surge could, ironically, lead to a stronger pro-EU bloc, with a common enemy to unite against.

The traditional pro-European, mainstream parties have dominated the European Parliament through the two largest voting blocs - the centre right European People's Party (EPP) and centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

These two groups are expected to have about 200 seats each after May's elections - out of a total of 751 MEPs.

If the polls are correct, they will be confronted by a Euro sceptic bloc of a similar size, which could block and frustrate legislation.

If the three largest groups, S&D, the EPP and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) were to group together they'd have close to 500 votes, giving them a comfortable two-thirds majority to pass key legislation on the single market, trade, and euro zone governance issues.