Giving Compass' Take:

• In conjunction with the Financial Times, Brookings takes a look at the Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery and finds gains leveling off in many parts of the world, with warning signs that things could go backwards.

• How will the full economic picture affect development funding? It's worth examining these macro trends, while keeping a close eye on a market that can sway quickly.

• Here are ways to rethink how we give for a more regenerative economy.

The world economy’s growth momentum remains strong but is leveling off as the winds of trade war, geopolitical risks, domestic political fractures, and debt-related risks loom, with financial markets already reflecting mounting vulnerabilities. The latest update of the Brookings-Financial Times Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER) provides grounds for optimism about the current state of the world economy matched by some pessimism about the sustainability of the growth momentum.

Among advanced economies, the pace of growth has moderated slightly in 2018. Investment and productivity growth improved last year, but gains in employment and wages remains modest in many of these economies. After a good start at the beginning of the year, equity and bond markets in the advanced economies took a sharp hit but appear to have stabilized.

The U.S. economy remains in robust shape, with growth in GDP, industrial production, and investment holding up well. In tandem with strong consumer confidence and employment growth, wage and inflationary pressures have picked up slightly, although less than would be typical at this stage of the cycle. The U.S. is engaged in a perilous macroeconomic experiment, with the injection of a significant fiscal stimulus even as the economy appears to be operating at or above its potential. The Fed is likely to lean hard against potential inflationary pressures as this stimulus plays out. Export growth has been buoyed by a weak dollar and strong external demand, but the U.S. trade deficit has still risen over the past year. The large bilateral trade deficit with China remains a flashpoint, setting in motion trade tensions that could have implications for China, the U.S., and the entire world economy.

Read the full article about the update to the Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery by Karim Foda and Eswar Prasad at Brookings