May 2020 – Economic update

Matt:  This week, I was fortunate enough to sit in on an economic update with one of the heads of investment of Macquarie Bank, Martin Lakos. The key areas he covered off, with some data regarding the worldwide economy, some risk they are still worried about, and then also some things regarding Australia specifically. Martin was quite adamant that the key risks associated with the next three to six months are two things.

Firstly, what impact will any secondary and following flare ups of the virus look like as isolation and social distancing restrictions are removed? He continued to reiterate that this is primarily a health crisis, and without a vaccine, there is still a considerable amount of uncertainty. The secondary weight risk, which is still yet to play out and might take another six to 12 months to fully evolve is the impact that coronavirus has on corporate earnings around the world.