Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson, one of Wall Street’s most skeptical strategists, says that resilient consumer spending has helped the U.S. economy outperform the global economy, which has disappointed in the second half of 2019.
Wilson, the firm’s chief U.S. equity strategist, said the global economy had posted the worst performance since the global financial crisis with most purchasing manager indexes (PMIs) falling below 50.
“The global economy has disappointed most expectations this year, even ours, and it hasn’t just been China weakness. With 70 percent of PMIs around the world now below 50, we haven’t seen negative breadth like this since the global financial crisis,” Wilson said in a note to clients.
Wilson added that the “U.S. GDP has been slower than expected for the first half of the year, but still growing at a respectable 2 percent, thanks to a resilient U.S. consumer.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 67: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin goes solo to discuss the NFL’s entertainment and “social justice” deal with Jay-Z. We look back at the Barclays gentrification issue in the documentary “A Genius Leaves The Hood: The Unauthorized Story of Jay-Z.”
Wilson has had impeccable timing of late. He predicted that the S&P 500 index would fall after coming close to a record high of 3,025.86. As indicated, it indeed pulled back and has failed to breach 3,000 points ever since.
“I’ve been steadfast in my call for a U.S. profits recession this year and skeptical of the big second-half recovery that company management teams promised back in the first quarter,” Wislon said.
