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, …

Week in review Global equities continued to grind higher last week, helped by ongoing solid economic growth yet still benign long-term bond yields. In a further sign that U.S. inflation fears have likely peaked, Wall Street shrugged off a further surge in the ISM manufacturing price …

Week in review Global equities rebounded last week, comforted by further reassuring words from Fed chair Powell, excitement related to US President Biden’s infrastructure package, and a no worse than feared inflation outcome. After the previous week’s apparent hawkish tilt at the Fed meeting, Powell fronted Congress …

Week in review Equities buckled under Fed tightening fears. The Fed policy meeting was of course the market highlight last week, particularly the increase in the number of Fed members who are now penciling in a rate hike in 2023 according to the ‘dot plot’ chart. …

Week in review Global markets shrugged off a higher than expected U.S. consumer price index (CPI) result, with U.S. 10-year bond yields edging lower and equities pushing higher. This likely reflected an element of “sell the rumour, buy the fact”, given fears of a high inflation …

Global markets Global equities ended last week up modestly, and appear to be back in the “bad news is good news” frame of mind. Stronger than expected U.S. manufacturing and service sector indices set markets back early last week, though stocks then rallied strongly on Friday …

Global markets Global equities managed to post positive returns last week – after two weekly declines – even in the face of a modestly higher than expected U.S. consumer price inflation result. Indeed, annual growth in the U.S. core private consumption expenditure deflator (PCED) came in …

Global markets Overall it was a week of further consolidation for global equity markets, with the S&P 500 down modestly for the second week in a row. With real activity data remaining unquestionably strong (the U.S. Markit composite PMI index hit a record 68.1 in May), …

Global markets Inflation and interest rates fears caused global equities to buckle last week as commodity prices marched higher and U.S. consumer price inflation surprised on the upside. By week’s end, however, conditions had settled down somewhat – with investors prepared to back the view that …

Global markets It was a case of ‘bad news is good news’ again in global markets last week, with equities enjoying a boost from weaker than expected U.S. economic data which appeared to reduce the risk of high inflation and interest rates any time soon. The …