The markets have been closely monitoring the development of inflation and the central banks’ response to it for months, an issue that raised its head once again this Monday with the announcement of Jerome Powell's re-election as chair of the US Federal Reserve.
An old friend of economists —who had been lurking around for some time— has become the main protagonist of the post-pandemic economic recovery: inflation. In recent months, the global economy has been characterized by upward pressure on prices that is more or less widespread, placing inflation above the target of central banks in many cases.
The IBEX 35 has not shown a clear direction in recent months and has been closing for some weeks in very narrow bands around 9,000 points, but by lifting our gaze a bit and observing the rest of the European trading floors, it can be estimated that it has a long way to go.
Eurostat data reveal GDP growth of 2.2% in the Eurozone in the third quarter. Good news for the economic bloc, though not for all countries that comprise it. While France and Italy lead the growth, Spain and Germany are downgrading their forecasts.
Searching for hidden assets or undervalued stocks are among these key elements, according to the American investor Jon Boyar, renowned value investing guru, who participated this week in the annual Substrate AI event (formerly called Zona Value).
The key indexes are showing returns of more than 20%. What can we expect in 2022? And, in the specific case of the Ibex 35, which has lost 10 points compared to Europe in 2021, will its performance improve? According to 8 out of 10 analysts and managers, next year will be good, but not as good as this one.
We are in a situation in which natural gas prices have increased by 500% in Europe and 100% in the U.S. We are also seeing the effects of the supply and demand imbalance, a result of the easing of restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the increase in mobility.
Growth expectations are being lowered considerably, but still remain high. “PMIs have fallen, but they are not sinking; growth will continue to be strong, ”says Alberto Matellán, chief economist at MAPFRE Inversión, on the Radio Intereconomía program A Media Sesión.
COP26, the climate summit, is underway in Glasgow and sustainable finance or socially responsible investment will logically be one of the central topics of debate. Daniel Sancho, investment manager at MAPFRE Gestión Patrimonial, explains, during an appearance on the Ponte en Acción program on Negocios TV, that ESG investing “isn’t anything new, at least at MAPFRE, and it turns out that these kinds of investments yield healthy returns, more so than a traditional investment approach.”