Bill Wolfe, Senior Vice President – Corporate Finance, covers key indicators of our positive 2019 outlook for non-financial North American companies. Bill reviews Industry Sector Outlooks (ISOs) and their associated business conditions, as well as trade tensions and changing monetary policy. He also discusses speculative grade liquidity and how the dynamic between the market at its policies has returned lower ratings.
Ana Arsov, managing director financial institutions, outlines the drivers behind the positive outlook for global investment banks. These include how the banks’ stronger balance sheets and more stable earnings will protect them from risks, and their capital and liquidity remaining strong despite a modest rise in shareholder payouts.
Ana also discusses how the profitability of the peer group will benefit from rising interest rates in the US and reduced legacy and restructuring costs in Europe.
Rokhaya Cisse, Analyst in the Funds & Asset Management group, explains the key drivers of Moody’s stable outlook for asset managers in 2019, as well as risks that lie ahead.
Asset managers’ successful integration of technology and ability to address cost structure issues and adapt to a new service model for the industry support the stable outlook. However, market volatility, weaker demand and lower fees will challenge the industry in the next year.