News & Views

Equity markets rise despite central banks doubling on pledges to get inflation under control The week will be most notably marked by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s much loved and longest sitting monarch, who dutifully served her country to the end. Global equities rose following the dollar weakening, prompted by the European Central..

Market volatility resumes Markets continued their decline this week, following on from last Friday’s hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair, Jerome Powell. Powell’s remarks that the Fed would continue to fight inflation and raise rates despite the risk of pushing the economy towards recession, weighed on markets. Economic data releases, in particular worse..

Markets continue to look for signs of an interest rate pivot in the US Bond yields, which move inversely to price, moved higher, as investors await the hotly anticipated speech from Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on Friday, as interest rate policy continues to dominate markets. Expectations are high that without..

Mixed economic data and company results have led to a similarly mixed week in markets It has been a mixed week for markets as economic data and company results were mixed, providing little direction.  Whilst there are some signs of cooling growth, such as in the US housing market, other areas, such as employment, remain..

Softening inflation powers markets upwards In a choppy market, equities made further gains following the latest US inflation data, providing the possibility that peak inflation is behind us. Consumer price inflation (CPI) came in at 8.5% for the year to July, down from 9.1% the previous month, and for the month of July itself inflation..

Attention turns to US economic data After a strong July for global markets, the first week of August saw more moderate returns amongst equities as investors keenly anticipate today’s US labour market data. With the US already in a technical recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth), extra focus is being paid to other economic..

Equity markets set for their best month since late 2020 Markets are set for a strong finish to the week, as investors were encouraged by comments made by US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair, Jay Powell. The central bank raised its federal funds rate by 0.75% to a range of 2.25% to 2.50%, which was widely..

Equity markets rise as a weakening economic outlook dampens inflation expectations Equity markets rose this week on the back of company results that were not as bad as feared, most notably the US media streaming giant Netflix, whilst further evidence of a weakening business environment, through the purchasing managers indices (PMI), helped to alleviate fears..

Further inflationary pressures drive the US dollar higher and markets down The US dollar continued its ascent this week as US consumer price inflation hit 9.1% for the month of June, raising expectations for yet another 0.75% interest rate rise.  Yield curve inversion in the US widened to its greatest level since 2007 as the..

Equities recover a little as interest rate expectations fall Equities recovered a little this week as markets scaled back interest rate expectations on early signs of an economic slowdown, with the manufacturing sectors outlook weakening in recent company surveys, as both employment intentions and new orders have waned.  However, a key US jobs report is..