Global Markets Global equities consolidated last week after solid gains over the previous two weeks, with the most notable market movement being a sharp drop in oil prices as the U.S. announced the biggest ever withdrawal from its strategic reserves. Equities continue to hope for a …

Global markets There continues to be a strange divergence in global financial markets. Global bond yields surged further last week as strong U.S. economic data and hawkish Fed rhetoric saw bond markets almost fully price in a 0.5% rate hike at the May Fed meeting – …

Global markets What a week! Despite the ongoing Ukraine war and a more hawkish than expected Fed meeting, global equities saw fit to surge in what I can only attribute to a ‘sell the rumour, buy the fact’ mentality. In other words, investors had been fearful …

Global markets It was another poor week for global equities, with the U.S. S&P 500 down 2.9% and on the cusp of breaking to a new low in the correction to date. Confirmation that the U.S. and U.K. would ban Russian oil imports got the week …

Global markets The intensification of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – along with Putin’s nuclear talk – saw world oil prices surge 26% last week to US$115 a barrel, which in turn saw global equities decline by 2.4%. Grain/food prices are also moving higher. All that said, …

Global Markets Last week was clearly volatile for global markets, with the attack on Ukraine initially causing a risk-off move, followed by a risk-on recovery on relief that Russian sanctions did not extend to oil and gas exports and all the mayhem at least seemingly reduced …

Global markets It was another rocky week for global equities, with war tensions in Europe and hot producer prices in the United States. Stocks got an early lift last week on reports that Russia might be scaling back its troop build-up – but those hopes were …

Global markets A hot U.S. consumer inflation report and fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated market sentiment last week, resulting in global equities retreating after bouncing back over the previous two weeks. Markets are once again looking vulnerable – if Powell does not get …

Global markets Here is the critical question of the year: can the Fed engineer a ‘soft landing’ for the U.S. economy? In other words, can it slow the economy by enough to take the pressure off red-hot wage and price inflation without causing the economy to tip …

Global markets It’s nice to be back from holiday.. what did I miss? One of the downsides of being a market analyst is that it’s often hard to switch off from markets even when on a break, especially when volatility spikes and there are big market-moving …