The Chinese economy is turning green. It is registering general improvements, in spite of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, and this is helping Macau’s positing in the gambling industry. As a result, the brokerage arm of Nomura, Instinet, has updated its position on the city’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) forecast for this year, and now expects Macau to see anywhere between 1-4% positive growth. Instinet had previously predicted a 3% contraction of GGR in the city.

In a note this past Wednesday from Instinet’s analysts, Harry Curtis, Daniel Adam and Brian Dobson, “Considering the fourth-quarter and year-to-date GGR, we believe that 2019 growth will settle in a range of 1 percent to 4 percent. One percent is consensus, but 4 percent growth is possible if GGR volumes follow the recovery in key China economic indicators.”

The Chinese gambling market is one of the most important sources of high-roller gambling income for Macau, as well as the city’s main source of mass-market gaming revenue. The analysts pointed out that there are a number of signs that the economy in mainland China is improving, leading to the revised forecast.

When the U.S.-China trade war was in full swing last November, Instinet had predicted that Macau’s VIP market segment would see contractions of as much as 10% this year. This was expected to offset the annual growth of either 3% or 4% that was expected for the slot machine and mass gaming segments.