IEF&BFS Market Forecast, XIII edition

As 2024 draws to a close, we gather once again to hear from prominent experts in economics, financial markets, and asset management. With their knowledge, they will shed light on the uncertainties that 2025 brings and help us understand the challenges ahead by addressing key questions such as:

On a geopolitical level:

• Will the new U.S. president redefine geopolitical relations, opening up new opportunities or intensifying risks in a polarized and deglobalizing world?
• How will the global economy—and especially the major economic zones—evolve if a new cycle of tariffs and a global trade war begins?
• Will the new measures and stimulus from Chinese authorities be able to reverse the real estate crisis and encourage consumers to spend, becoming the new engine of growth for the country?
• Will Europe learn the lesson and start shifting its policies to improve the lives of its citizens in order to confront the rise of populism?
• Will the Federal Reserve be able to continue cutting rates when the risk is that inflation could rebound amid a clear economic reacceleration in the U.S. and rising tariffs that drive up prices for end consumers?

And in financial markets:

• Will the “decoupling” between U.S. stock markets and the rest of the world, and between growth and value sectors, continue to widen?
• Will fixed income and gold once again serve as assets that help decorrelate portfolios and perhaps be the most profitable products of 2025?
• Will the new economic, fiscal, and financial policies to be implemented in the United States lead to the broader acceptance of cryptocurrencies as optimal digital assets to include in various investment vehicles?

These and many other questions posed by attendees will be central to the XIII IEF&BFS Market Forecast, which will help us contextualize the current moment and gain first-hand insight into the vision, challenges, and opportunities we are likely to face as we approach the new year, 2025.

Speakers:

• Damià Rey, Director of the GVC Institute and Professor of Economic Theory at UB, UIC, and Abat Oliba
• Alex Fusté, Chief Global Economist at Andbank
• Georgina Sierra, Director of Financial Assets at Diverinvest

Moderator:

• Josep Ramon Aixelà, independent consultant and advisor, and Director of the Executive Program on Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, and Macrotrends