Notable events over the last week The ECB dominated headlines last week underwhelming markets with its latest stimulus package, causing government bond prices to fall and the euro to jump in value. The Central Bank lowered its deposit rate by 10bps to -0.3% and pledged to extend its quantitative easing programme by at least six … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Notable events Following subdued trading over Thanksgiving in the US, attention this week is largely focused on the ECB meeting on the 3rd of December. Draghi and several board members have remained very dovish and signalled that the central bank is working on a number of different options to ease policy. Markets are now expecting … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Notable events over the last week In a week of largely positive data for the US, jobs data stole the headlines. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 271,000 in October; a sharp jump from the weak August and September numbers of 153,000 and 137,000 respectively and easily exceeded the median estimate of 180,000. The unemployment rate fell … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Notable events over the last week The FOMC unsurprisingly held off on raising rates yet again last week, however provided a strong indication that a 2015 lift-off is still firmly on the table. In the statement released on Wednesday, the FOMC specifically mentioned the “next meeting” and expressed less concern about international financial conditions; a … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Notable events over the last week Last week’s existing US home sales provided further evidence that the US recovery is likely to be supported by the strengthening domestic economy. Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded last month to the second-highest level since February 2007, growing 4.7% to 5.55 million, beating expectations of 5.39 million. … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Notable events over the last week Last week marked the official start of the Q3 earnings season and whilst the majority of reported earnings have beaten expectations many companies are wary of the headwinds which lie ahead. Of the 57 S&P 500 companies to have reported, 75% have beaten on EPS by an average of … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
Thursday saw the release of September’s FOMC meeting minutes which supported the committee’s decision to leave rates on hold for yet another month. All but one of the members voted against an increase and the minutes reiterated that ‘lift-off’ was dependant on future developments in the economy. Fed Vice-Chair Fischer highlighted the ‘considerable uncertainties’ around … Continue reading Notable events over the last week
UK equities contracted -2.7% in September (total return, Sterling terms), as markets experienced another month of sell-offs following a downbeat August. Once again risky assets succumbed to global emerging market growth concerns and tightening in global financial conditions. On a global scale, equity market returns in September (in local currency terms) were negative throughout, with … Continue reading Weekly Market Update
The overall market scenario for the last week looks good in the developed economies, with the unemployment levels declining and the headline inflation touching almost zero. However, it is important to note here that global growth is weighed upon by the performance of developing economies. In terms of the stock market performance for the … Continue reading End of September Review
Starting with the US; last week figures were released saying the economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.9% rather the 3.7% in Q2. This is due to strong consumer spending business investment and residential construction. Recent data in the US shows that new home sales surged to the highest levels since 2008. US Manufacturing … Continue reading Weekly market review (End of Q3)