For good reason, Fed Ex’s business results are considered a barometer for the global economy. Therefore, CEO Frederick Smith’s comments from last night, where he lowered the company’s 2019 earnings guidance, is something we should not take lightly.
And, frankly, I couldn’t agree more that the issues weighing on the economy, and the markets, are all about really bad politics (globally). I also agree that, per the last sentence, better policy, at this juncture, would turn things around:
“I’ll just conclude by saying most of the issues that we’re dealing with today are induced by bad political choices. I mean, making a bad decision about a new tax, creating a tremendously difficult situation with Brexit, the immigration crisis in Germany, the mercantilism and state-owned enterprise initiatives in China, the tariffs that the United States put in unilaterally. So you just go down the list, and they’re all things that have created macroeconomic slowdowns. The good news is, with a change in policy, they could turn it around pretty quick, too.”
We’ll get a huge dose of U.S. monetary policy at 11am this morning.