Global Economic Outlook 2016: What Lies Ahead for Corporate Profits in Mature Economies?

In the post-financial-crisis period, when looking across mature economies, economic conditions have been disappointing. From multiple recessions across Europe and Japan, to the slowest expansion in US history, economic growth underperformed. Yet when it comes to corporate profits, the story is a little different. Through 2014, overall corporate profits growth was weak. But while in some countries like Italy and France corporate profits plummeted, US corporations enjoyed a period of historically high profitability. Since 2014 though, and moving forward, US corporations are facing major headwinds which are likely to result in a prolonged period of negative profit growth.