In general, the Chief Global Economist of the consulting company Deloitte observed that: whether there was a lockdown in the individual countries was not decisive for the impact on economic activities: "What makes the difference is fear."
Both in the USA as well as in Europe, he explained, consumers certainly still had money to spend after the "historic drop in consumer spending" - which was also able to flow in the direction of the home improvement industry. Because in future, more people would have been working from home whether there had been a pandemic or not. As a result, there is an increase in demand for "bigger homes with bigger home offices," says Kalish. People who work from home will also buy more things for their home. In the round of questions, he once more emphasised: "Home improvement companies will actually do well in the future."
Kalish is also expecting an impact on the global supply chains. He predicts that companies will invest more in the resilience of their supply chains and, in particular, reduce their dependency on China. The Japanese government, he gave as an example, is already specifically supporting such efforts. "I think we'll see more of that, expects Kalish. But in his opinion, goods from Europe will remain important for the US economy.
Kalish also mentioned the presidential elections in the USA: he was holding the presentation live from the USA - early morning for him, early evening for his audience in Europe. Biden will be much more of "an international president" than his predecessor and will work "to rebuild the global economy", he feels.