MENA MARKETS REVIEW: November 2017
Kuwait: December 12, 2017
HIGHLIGHTS
Kuwait announced it would inject $160 billion to develop its islands over the next 20 years, creating 200,000 jobs and generating $40 billion dollars a year in revenues
- President Trump nominated Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve, bypassing Janet Yellen for a second term
- The German DAX fell 1.6% in November after talks to form a grand coalition government in Germany failed
- Brent Oil hit its highest price in November since 2015
- Saudi’s TASI was up 1.0%, withstanding the corruption crackdown that detained hundreds of high profile individuals
- The Qatari Index continued its losing streak, shedding 5.5% for the month
INTERNATIONAL: TAX CUTS COULD BOOST US GROWTH; BREXIT DEAL MARKS PROGRESS
An already robust global economic picture improved still further in recent weeks. Data in Europe and Japan firmed noticeably, and continued to come in strong in the US. The outlook in the U.S. also benefited from the Senate’s passage of a historic tax reform bill, though a final reconciled measure will require some additional work. Meanwhile, the UK made significant progress on a Brexit agreement with the EU, removing some of the dark clouds on the horizon. With that, equities continued to perform well, hitting fresh highs. Despite the robust outlook for growth, inflation continued to lag behind.
Global Equities
Global equities continue to perform well, posting a gain of 1.8% in November, as measured by the MSCI All Country World Index, while in the U.S., the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones closed up 2.8% and 3.8%, respectively. President Trump nominated Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve, bypassing Janet Yellen for a second term. Powell is expected to maintain similar monetary policy if the economy continues its steady growth. “From today, four rate hikes through the end of next year is still kind of my base view,” San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said during a recent economics forecast lunch. He continued to say “We need to get from here to roughly 2.5 percent fed funds rate over the next couple of years.” The Fed’s current short-term interest rate is between 1% and 1.25%, and a hike of 0.25% is expected in December.
Read the rest of the report here.
