Week in review
- It was a curious week in global markets whereby the ongoing downtrend in long-term bond yields, which was initially celebrated by equity markets, has morphed into a potential ‘canary in the coal mine’ growth scare. U.S. stocks sold off almost 1% on Thursday, with U.S. 10-year bond yields touching 1.25%, before rebounding on Friday. The net result was the S&P 500 inched ahead 0.4% last week, while 10-year yields dropped a further 0.06%, ending the week at 1.36%. There’s talk the global spread of the delta COVID variant is one new growth concern, even though high vaccination rates suggest Europe and the U.S. at least seem to be managing the rising case count reasonably well.
- Indeed, anyone who watched Wimbledon on the weekend would have seen packed stadiums and no face masks – even though 30,000 Britons are still getting COVID each day and almost 20 are dying. Yet the UK is moving on because 66% of the population have now been fully vaccinated.
Click to read the Full Report
