Opinion – Wednesday 19 March 2014

Crimea is now officially part of the Russian Federation after Russian President, Putin, the Prime Minister of Crimea and the Mayor of Sevastopol jointly signed a treaty late yesterday. However in his lengthy speech to the Russian Parliament, Putin indicated that he is...

Opinion – Tuesday 18 March 2014

Markets ended the day stronger as a relief rally ensued after last week’s dramatic sell-off. Equity markets were stronger across the board with the S&P and German DAX both closing up over 1%. Bond Yields were higher whilst Gold lost some of its safe-haven...

Opinion – Monday 17 March 2014

The week has opened to the news that Crimea voted on Sunday to secede from the Ukraine by a massive majority. The Crimean Government announced that it intends to adopt the Russian Ruble as its currency from April 1st. Equity markets were initially lower on this result...

Opinion – Friday 14 March 2014

Equity markets had their worst trading day since Feb 3rd yesterday, as a result of Chinese growth jitters and renewed Ukrainian-Russian tensions, with markets switching to the risk-adverse mode with Bonds up and Stocks down. Worryingly for the bulls both the Dow and...

Opinion – Thursday 13 March 2014

Last week it was the events in Ukraine/Crimea. This week the focus has switched back to Asia and more specifically China where we have bond defaults and talk of Iron Ore being used as ‘can collateral’ and of course the price of Iron Ore itself. You can...

Opinion – Wednesday 12 March 2014

There remains a tinge of concern about global economic growth, particularly in China. Worries about Chinese corporates and some poor US data contributed to weaker markets yesterday with this theme continuing in Europe this morning. US Equities closed lower but...