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Happy New Year and welcome to month 104 of the U.S. economic expansion, already the third-longest-running expansion in U.S. history! As we look back, 2017 was a pretty good year for the U.S. economy. Job growth was robust, consumer and business confidence was buoyant and solid GDP growth persisted. Recently released ISM indices and retail sales numbers also support this assessment. The country even got a tax break just before Christmas, the first major policy achievement of the Trump presidency. This is likely to provide at least a modest boost to the economy going into this year.
While some will attribute much of the boost in the economy (and particularly the stock market) during the last year to a post-election bounce, the favorable global backdrop was arguably more crucial in propelling last year’s activity. Many equity indices outside the U.S. handily outperformed the major U.S. indices in 2017. Europe particularly shined, with its broad and consistent growth across the continent, and the outlook for several major emerging markets brightened as well. These underpinnings should support the current trajectory of the U.S. economy, and property markets, in 2018.
Source : CBRE Global Investors
