WTO comments on trade matters
- Services trade lost momentum through Q2 2019
- This suggests it continues to face strong headwinds leading into 2H 2019
- Services trade has generally held up better than goods trade, which is more affected by rising trade tensions
It is more of statement of observation and fact rather than digging deeper into the issue here from the WTO. It will be interesting to see how much the slowdown in industrial/manufacturing activity spills over to the services sector over the next 12-18 months.
If the services sector starts to follow suit, expect fears of a global recession to amplify and take over as a main theme in 2020.
For now, I still think markets are a bit distracted by the Saudi oil news and are in large parts brushing aside this story from China earlier today. I mean, that is not a pretty picture by any stretch of the imagination:
China's industrial production continued to weaken, slowing to its weakest annual growth pace in over 17.5 years in August
