Media Finance Outlook Q2 - Q3

“Since the beginning of 2021, the balance of surprises has tilted towards the positive, despite the still numerous health uncertainties. — Coface Economic Research Team, “BAROMETER” April 27, 2021”

Executive Summary:
Inflation continues to be the main focus as the year progresses. Travel media spending will likely take until 2022 to fully recover. Optimism builds in the US as vaccinations take hold.

Indicators of Strength:

• “We’re going to keep low short-term interest rates and a hot economy, so inflation will begin to increase, and the stock market will be pushed ahead because corporate profits are going to be very strong.”

  — Jeremy Siegel, Wharton
  

• “Many economists, along with the Federal Reserve, expect the jump in inflation to be temporary, but others worry it could persist even once reopening is complete.”
  — By Gwynn Guilford and Sarah Chaney Cambon, The Wall Street Journal

Indicators of Weakness:

• “Airline traffic is growing again, but the industry still faces turbulence. The number of travelers passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints on March 12 reached 1.36 million, the highest count since the early days of the pandemic. But that’s little more than half the number of TSA screenings done on the same day two years ago (2.50 million), before COVID.”
  — By Bradley Johnson, AdAge