2025 economic and market outlook from Vanguard
Global inflation has slowed sharply in the last two years and is now within touching distance of 2%. But the path to disinflation has been uneven across countries and regions, with most developed markets enduring monetary-policy-induced slowdowns to get there. The United States is a notable exception, having experienced accelerating economic growth and full employment with no discernible effect from restrictive monetary policy. Has the U.S. achieved a soft landing? Or will the impact of high interest rates eventually lead to a hard landing? These questions have dominated the market narrative over the last two years, with the focus on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve can perfectly time the rate-cutting cycle to achieve painless disinflation. Yet this emphasis on the “landing” may not fully explain the pairing of exceptionally strong growth and falling inflation that we’ve witnessed in the U.S. The forces that do explain it suggest a new narrative for the economy and markets. In our 2025...