In other news, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reduced its forecast for global growth in 2019, again, and they say their forecast for 2020 could be downgraded if Trump's trade wars continue.
Meanwhile, Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain will leave the EU no matter what on October 31st. He also says he'll get "new deal, a better deal" than former PM Theresa May did even though the EU has already said there won't be a new deal.
Finally, executives from UPS say that even though the company posted better than expected results from the second quarter, it's mostly because business is growing where neither Trump's trade wars or the Brexit is threatening business.
"I recently met with top trade officials from the U.S. and from China. And while I’m encouraged by the commitment of the negotiating teams we need to see more measurable progress towards a comprehensive agreement. At the moment, the global business community is facing prolonged trade uncertainty in Europe and elsewhere and forecasts are softening" [UBS Chief Executive David Abney] said.
Abney’s comments, made in the post-earnings conference call with analysts, come as the White House said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to China to resume trade talks next week, with the delegation from China led by Vice Premier Liu He.
Despite the scheduled talks, UPS Chief Financial Officer Richard Peretz said trade headwinds are “growing” at a time that global industrial production is slowing. World exports are now forecast to grow at a slower pace than global gross domestic product, he noted.
For UPS, Peretz said Asia exports are growing to virtually all regions of the world, except the U.S. Meanwhile, U.K. exports and imports continue to be down on a year-over-year basis, driven by uncertainty around Brexit. However, UPS is growing exports within the European continent.
Sometimes I think Vladimir Putin got far more than he ever hoped for when he supported Trump and the Brexit campaign.