The Score in the Economic Game: 0-0

NEW YORK CITY—Two topics appear to be on people’s minds lately, Scott Shay observed in a keynote presentation here last week: geopolitical issues and World Cup soccer. The relationship between the two is closer than you might think, the chairman of Signature Bank told his audience: alluding to the progression of many of the games in the 2014 edition of the now-concluded championship series, Shay said, “We seem to be in an economy that’s stuck at 0-0.”

In his keynote address to the Commercial Lender’s Forum, co-presented by Bloomberg and the Real Estate Services Alliance, Shay offered an explanation for why the economy, globally as well as domestically, is stuck between positive and negative factors. On the plus side, private sector job growth in the US is gaining strength—although it hasn’t kept up with population gains—and interest rates remain at historic lows, while monetary easing has been widespread among the world’s central banks. “Everybody has been easing, and that’s got to have a positive effect on the global economy,” said Shay.