There are plenty of other threats to the global economy to contend with away from Europe’s shores as well, such as continued trouble in the Middle East and the questions over how strong China’s economy really is underneath the government issued performance figures.
If the Fed fixes its eyes solely on the US economy however, it could be a different story with rates ending 2017 significantly higher than they started it. If ‘Trumpenomics’ delivers, hawks could end up holding sway with three or four rate hikes being sanctioned by this time next year.
Making call on which of these two theoretical scenarios is closer to the reality of what happens could make or break portfolios in 2017.