Saxo Bank's Q2 Outlook: Continued Low Growth Will End Politicians' Free-Ride

Hellerup, Denmark (ots/PRNewswire) -

Three months into 2013 and growth projections are already being
lowered across the globe according to Saxo Bank
[http://www.saxobank.com ], the multi-asset trading and investment
specialist. The Bank writes in its TradingFloor.com Insights Q2
[http://www.tradingfloor.com/blogs/quarterly-outlook ] that the world
is looking at a 2013 that is, from the outside, a mirror image of
2011 and 2012 but with a difference: The German election in
September.

Low growth rates will increase the social and political tensions
in Europe as seen by the recent bail-in/bail-out of Cyprus, in which
everyone lost: the depositors, the Troika's credibility and any hope
that the Eurozone has a real plan for dealing with this crisis in
anything other than piecemeal fashion. The political consensus to buy
time is running out as the policy makers increasingly will have to
deal with intolerably high and rising unemployment and the lack of
growth or reforms that will move economies forward.

The TradingFloor.com Insights Q2 features a comparison between the
major Eurozone economies, the UK and the US, which reveals that the
US ranked third behind Spain and Italy when it comes to reducing
public sector spending last year. Meanwhile, the UK, France and
Germany all saw increased public consumption - in that order.

Despite the decline in public spending, the Bank expects moderate
growth to continue in the US in 2013 to the tune of 2%, down from
2.1% last year, before accelerating to 3% in 2014. The US economy may
not be exactly stellar, but at least moderate growth is on tap. The
outlook is decidedly more downbeat across the Atlantic, where the
Eurozone must resign itself to the fact that the recession is
destined to continue.

The Bank expects that economic activity in the EU will decline by
0.3% in 2013 after last year's drop of 0.5%, while the unemployment
rate will rise throughout the year and average more than 12%. The
resulting slack in the economy will keep inflation subdued. The
economies of Italy and Spain will remain weak, but it is the French
economy that concerns the Bank's strategists the most, particularly
because of the French government's failure to implement reforms.

Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist at Saxo Bank, says:

"A free rider in economics refers to someone who benefits from
resources, goods, benefits, or services without paying for the cost
of said benefit. In the first quarter of this year, the world moved
from a free-riding concept to blatant public disagreement on how to
keep the party going. Stock markets have hit new highs but employment
and growth, the two factors that really matter in the long term, are
not improving.

"This means that the free-ride for politicians is over. They now
need to do something they have never excelled at: face the facts and
devise real solutions. As they are unlikely to rise to the task,
let's hope they don't get in the way of the micro economy, which will
have to do it for them instead."

The full report can be downloaded here:
http://www.tradingfloor.com/blogs/quarterly-outlook

About Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank is a leading online trading [http://www.saxobank.com/fo
rex?csref=b1744_Link_boilerplate_pressrelease ] and investment
specialist, offering private investors and institutional clients a
complete set of tools for their trading and investment strategies. A
fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables clients
to trade FX, CFDs [http://www.saxobank.com/cfds?csref=b1745_Link_boi
lerplate_pressrelease ], ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other
derivatives via three specialised and fully integrated multi-asset
trading platforms [http://www.saxobank.com/demo-account?csref=b1746_
Link_boilerplate_pressrelease ]; the browser-based SaxoWebTrader, the
downloadable SaxoTrader and the SaxoTrader app. The platforms are
available in over 20 languages and are white-labelled by more than
100 major financial institutions worldwide. Saxo Bank also offers
professional portfolio and fund management as well as traditional
banking services through Saxo Privatbank. Founded in 1992, the Saxo
Bank Group is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark with 24 local
offices throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Africa
and Australia.

About TradingFloor.com

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ots Originaltext: Saxo Bank (Switzerland) SA
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Media enquiries: Kasper Elbjørn, Head of Group Public Relations,
Saxo Bank, +45-3065-4300, press@saxobank.com, MHP Communications,
+44(0)203-128-8560, saxobank@mhpc.com