Archives Jan. 1, 2017

Moody’s rating agency has downgraded last week China sovereign debt notation. It echoes the numerous alerts about the excessive indebtedness of local authorities and state-owned companies. On the opposite, the State debt ratio (48%) would make many countries dreaming about it. That decision did not provoke any concern to financial markets. Shanghai, Taiwan and especially Hong Kong have followed their rise with, for the last one, a 16% increase since the beginning of the year. The Chinese risk is, in fact, overestimated and it is not new. The country has a huge current account surplus and currencies reserves above ...

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You don’t appoint Rex Tillerson, the Exxon C.E.O by chance to lead the State Department. Oil and fossil fuels have always played an important role in American policy, when it comes to price issues or relations with producing countries, as it was during the Bush era, both the father and his son, who started their carrier in Texas, the most important producing State. Donald Trump is reviving the tradition. But the stakes are different because the world today became more complex, American production has evolved and the Middle East is put to fire and sword.

During the ...

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It is not any more an issue to know if Emmanuel Macron is François Hollande’s heir and if he must carry the responsibility of the possible mistakes committed in the past, when he comes into function. The political debate has taken place during the presidential campaign and French people have decided. It is necessary now, just before the coming into office of the new president to get a precise analysis of the situation of the French economy and to identify the challenges the country is confronted with.

France did not get out from a long period of quasi ...

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