Hopes for fiscal stimulus are driving ‘optimism’ in Davos - Barclays CEO

According to Barclays CEO Jes Staley, the potential for governments to deploy fiscal stimulus policies in 2020 is creating greater optimism at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos than a year ago,

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates three times in 2019 as central banks around the world shifted toward more accommodative monetary policies.

"The U.S. is taking that and driving a fiscal stimulus policy, and I think you will start to see other countries like the U.K. begin to do that, and that's providing a certain floor to the economy which is lending itself to more optimism in Davos this year than last year," Staley told CNBC.

With markets now beginning to price in a cut by the Bank of England this year, Staley predicted that the British government will look to embark on a broad fiscal spending program to invest in regional infrastructure, since the impact of looser monetary policy on the global economy is diminishing as rates worldwide move closer to negative.

He suggested that the ECB and other central banks in Europe should begin looking at scaling back negative rates, which place a squeeze on the profitability of banks by effectively charging them for deposits placed with the central bank.