Democrats could begin working on a tax bill later this year, but resulting tax hikes may be weaker and less of a headwind to growth than some fear.

A large fiscal package geared toward pandemic relief will likely boost U.S. growth even further in 2021, but long-term inflationary risks are still balanced.

With a narrowly Democratic Congress, U.S. fiscal spending is likely to increase on economic relief from the pandemic, infrastructure, and healthcare, boosting the economic rebound.

The U.S. political focus has shifted to the reopening of the economy.

The $2.2 trillion stimulus is the biggest ever, but the U.S. Congress may be forced to do even more.

A bolder fiscal response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus has become an economic and political imperative.

Without pouring water on the “love fest,” we contend that the deal struck between China and the U.S. leaves much to be desired.

We believe the impeachment inquiry could have an adverse impact on the ongoing U.S.–China trade conflict, but there may be a silver lining for NAFTA 2.0.

The U.S. has been officially engaged in trade talks with China since March 2018 and has had very few tangible results.

New U.S. tariffs on Mexico would add to the direct economic costs of the string of tariff hikes enacted during this administration.

With the U.S. and China raising tariffs on each other’s goods, we may be entering a prolonged period of trade tension.

While we believe that optimism regarding an evolving and eventual trade deal between the U.S. and China is well-placed, we would caution investors against growing complacent about trade policy risk more broadly.

While we believe the shutdown on its own would have only a modest impact on growth, the combined impact of this and other short-term drags on the economy could slow first-quarter growth close to the zero mark.

In our outlook for 2019, we believe politics and policy out of Washington will continue to drive – and in some cases, weigh on – markets, much like they did in 2018.

While divided governments have generally been decent for markets, we think a defensive portfolio posture is prudent.