Opinion – Wednesday 31 October 2018

USD Indices made new highs yesterday mostly reflecting weakness by European currencies supported by solid US Consumer Confidence and faltering EU GDP growth. European equities closed mixed and US equities bounced into the close. Against a backdrop of USD strength, AUD...

Opinion – Tuesday 30 October 2018

It has been an up and down session, marked initially by a good session in Europe, helped by a proposal out of China to cut its 50% car purchase tax, currently 10%, taking the tax to 5%, adding to the other stimulus measures announced by China in the wake of the US...

Opinion – Friday 26 October 2018

After Wednesday’s big drop, European and US equities have rebounded yesterday with tech shares leading the gains. As expected and in spite of recent softer activity readings, the ECB has retained it policy guidance and remains on the long and winding road that leads...

Opinion – Thursday 25 October 2018

Soft economic data releases and mixed corporate earnings reports have combined to extend the losses in European and US equity markets. Safe haven demand, amid concerns over the global growth outlook and future equity earnings growth have pushed US Treasury yields...

Opinion – Wednesday 24 October 2018

It has been another bad day at the office for equity markets, beginning in the Asian session and spreading across Europe and the US. There has not actually been much news out there so the newswires are again making up a whole lot of stories to try to explain the move....

Opinion – Tuesday 23 October 2018

For once the IT sector is supporting rather than weighing on broader US Indices, ahead of what is the heaviest week of the US reporting season (146 of the S&P 500 companies report this week (of which there are thousands in total, or so I heard Joe Kernon say on...

Opinion – Monday 22 October 2018

The Euro and Australian Dollar this week look set to remain in the hands of broader USD and Emerging Market (EM) moves amid a sparse economic calendar. Broader USD moves in turn are likely to be heavily dependent on whether EUR/USD can build on Friday’s bounce. We...

Opinion – Friday 19 October – 2018

Equity market sentiment has turned sour again in the past 24 hours. The Shanghai stock market fell 2.94% yesterday (it is now down a cool 11.9% so far this month and 24.8% year to date), spilling over into softer European markets. The Eurostoxx Index was down 0.51%,...

Opinion – Thursday 18 October 2018

Late last night, UK PM May has been addressing EU27 leaders at a pre-dinner event on the latest Brexit developments/her proposals. Despite no clear air yet, including on the important Irish border question, the Pound has been remarkably stable. Not even comments from...

Opinion – Wednesday 17 October 2018

US stocks are back on the up, a 2.2% gain for the S&P 500 (led by the IT sector) which reduces the month-to date loss to 3.5% from 6.7% as of last Thursday and has pushed the VIX index back firmly below 20. This has done nothing for either US bond yields or the...

Opinion – Tuesday 16 October 2018

European equities did open weaker on the back of sizeable losses in Asia-Pacific equities, but managed to rally as the morning session progressed to close up for the day, the E600 European index up 0.1%, the FTSE by 0.48% and the DAX by 0.78%. It has been a choppier...

Opinion – Monday 15 October 2018

US equities rallied at the New York open on Friday, aided by JP Morgan’s pre-open earnings beat, but never really managed to build on opening gains. It turned out to be an up, down, up session with the S&P 500 ending 1.4% higher, so recovering a little of...

Opinion – Friday 12 October 2018

US equities have another very volatile session, from square to deeper negative and partially back again. After getting hit hard into the New York close the Dow is trading 400 points higher this morning in the grey market. Meanwhile, Bond yields and currencies showing...

Opinion – Thursday 11 October 2018

The army of professionals paid to fit facts to figures are out in force this morning ‘’explaining’’ the now 3-4% one-day falls in all the major US stocks indices on a combination of the recent back-up in US Treasury yields and deepening trade-related worries....