Brief : The global economic rebound from the pandemic has picked up speed but remains uneven across countries and faces multiple headwinds. Most worrisome: the lack of vaccines in poorer nations, which could lead to new virus variants and more stop-and-go lockdowns. Those were key points from the latest economic outlook published Monday by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD said that relief and stimulus measures in the more developed world had done much to get the economy through the pandemic recession and back on the path of growth. It forecast global output would rise 5.8%, raising its forecast from 4.8% during its previous outlook in December. This year's predicted rebound follows last year's contraction of 3.5%, and would be the fastest since 1973. The U.S. economy was expected to grow 6.9%, upgraded from a previously forecast 6.5%. The OECD cited wide-ranging support from government spending on additional unemployment benefits, financial assistance for local governments and support for low-income households.
Brief: Even as the coronavirus knocked markets and sent most money managers' assets under management sliding in March and April of 2020, the industry bounced back quickly. In 2020, growth managers came out on top in a big way, U.S. passive strategies continued to pull in assets, outcome-oriented investing fared well as factor investing floundered and ESG continued to grow at an impressive clip. Pensions & Investments annual survey of the largest managers found that global institutional assets under management of nearly 500 money managers grew 10.8% over the year ended Dec. 31 to $54.17 trillion. Overall, total worldwide assets for surveyed managers was $82.45 trillion, up 10.1% for the year and 53% for the five-year period ended Dec. 31. The gains for the year include a dismal first quarter — P&I previously reported that the AUM of 89 of the 100 largest managers declined by 10.4% during the quarter ended March 31, 2020. In terms of the big winners, BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. remained the largest managers in terms of total global AUM, but Fidelity Investments Inc. and State Street Global Advisors swapped positions from the prior year, with Fidelity moving up to third place and SSGA moving down to fourth.
Brief: In April, the Biden administration announced plans to share millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world by the end of June. Five weeks later, nations around the globe are still waiting — with growing impatience — to learn where the vaccines will go and how they will be distributed. To President Joe Biden, the doses represent a modern-day “arsenal of democracy,” serving as the ultimate carrot for America’s partners abroad, but also as a necessary tool for global health, capable of saving millions of lives and returning a semblance of normalcy to friends and foes alike. The central question for Biden: What share of doses should be provided to those who need it most, and how many should be reserved for U.S. partners? The answer, so far at least, appears to be that the administration will provide the bulk of the doses to COVAX, the U.N.-backed global vaccine sharing program meant to meet the needs of lower income countries. While the percentage is not yet finalized, it would mark a substantial — and immediate — boost to the lagging COVAX effort, which to date has shared just 76 million doses with needy countries. The Biden administration is considering reserving about a fourth of the doses for the U.S. to dispense directly to individual nations of its choice.
Brief: India’s economy expanded faster than expected last quarter before a resurgent coronavirus pandemic unleashed a new wave of challenges. Gross domestic product rose 1.6% from a year earlier in the three months ended March, the Statistics Ministry said Monday. That was faster than the 1% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The number marks the second straight quarter of expansion following a rare recession, which tipped the economy into an unprecedented 7.3% contraction for the full fiscal year ended March. That compares with a median 7.5% decline estimated in a Bloomberg survey. Stocks jumped 1%, the biggest advance in 10 days, before the GDP numbers were published. The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond rose two basis points to 6.02%, while the rupee slipped 0.2% ahead of the data. While pent-up demand for everything from mobile phones to cars revived consumption in Asia’s third-largest economy after it reopened last year from one of the strictest lockdowns that lasted more than two months, India’s status now as the global virus hotspot could hurt those prospects. It could temper what will be the fastest pace of growth among major economies this year.
Brief: The pandemic has made cryptocurrencies more attractive, according to a recent survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit . As more people stayed indoors to curb the spread of the virus, they found themselves with more time on their hands, while flush with multiple rounds of stimulus money from the government. Data from the Economist Intelligence Unit showed 46% of people surveyed found the case for owing cryptocurrencies more compelling due to covid-19. "It's a function of continued demand across both retail and institutions," Mathew McDermott, managing director and global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, was quoted saying in the study. He added: "Given the huge amount of stimulus we're seeing across countries because of covid-19 and low-interest rates, it's the right place at the right time for companies to offer the ability for people to buy, hold, and use digital currencies and have digital wallets." The first part of the study surveyed 3,053 people in February and March from developed economies - US, UK, France, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore - as well as developing countries including Brazil, Turkey, Vietnam, South Africa, and the Philippines.
Brief: Canadian private equity giant Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is set to buy two properties in and around the City of London, the Times reported. Plantation Place, an 18-story building that houses the offices of Accenture UK Ltd. and Aspen Insurance UK Ltd, is being sold for 635 million pounds ($901 million), and Milton Gate, a glass-fronted office block, for 215 million pounds, according to the Times. The U.K. government’s work-from-home guidance is still in force, which has kept footfall in central London to only a fraction of pre-pandemic levels. That in turn has depressed investment in London offices by 53% in the first four months of 2021, the Times says citing real-estate agent Savills.