327 words…less than a two minute read

What’s happening? In recent months, a mild winter in Europe helped cut energy consumption, contributing to a fall in energy prices from their highs last summer. Additionally, January payrolls in the U.S. grew by 517,000 - the most since July 2022 - and U.S. retail sales rose 3 percent in January from the previous month. The International Monetary Fund last month also raised its estimate of global growth this year to 2.9 percent, up from 2.7 percent in its October 2022 projection.

Aon offers insights on how organizations can remain resilient through volatile times:

• As 2023 has begun, many of the risks and challenges of last year still remain. Organizations are continuing to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic uncertainty and workforce changes. According to Aon’s 2022 Executive Risk Survey, business leaders are facing a long list of near-term risks like inflation and the best leaders are taking immediate action to respond to the economic slowdown, but they are not letting that get in the way of investing for long-term growth and managing long-term risks. Aon CEO Greg Case examines what steps business leaders should take to confront ongoing volatility and plan for business growth and resilience here.
• According to Adam Barnett, partner, Human Capital Solutions, Aon, “While there is always a combination of external and internal drivers at play when setting salary budgets, rising economic uncertainty and increased market fragmentation are making salary increase planning especially difficult this year.” Check out Aon’s insights, “Three Ways to Approach 2023 Salary Increase Budgets Amidst Rising Volatility.”
• The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 6.2 percent in October 2022, the highest it has been since November 1990. There have been multiple short-term upward shocks to inflation in recent history, usually caused by spikes in energy prices. But is this time different? Read “US Inflation: should markets be worried?” for additional insights.