Bassanese Bites: No landing? – February 06 2023
Global markets There was another assertive move higher in global equities last week, reflecting ongoing ‘soft landing’ hopes and a dovish tilt by the US Federal Reserve. The US S&P 500 lifted 1.6% to take out the recent end-week high of 28 November and confirm a break …
Bassanese Bites: Fed to hike 0.25% – January 30 2023
Global markets It was another positive week for risk sentiment globally, with mixed US activity data consistent with the continued possibility of a soft landing, while a key US inflation report was better than feared. All up, it left markets with the view that the Fed …
Bassanese Bites: Hopeful start – January 23 2023
Global markets It was a relatively subdued week in global markets, with the main focus remaining on how quickly the US economy is slowing – and whether the Fed will relent and become less hawkish before it triggers a recession. …
Bassanese Bites: It’s about wages – December 19 2022
Week in review Despite a lower than expected US consumer price index (CPI) result, global equities fell back for the second week in a row due to continued hawkish sentiment from global central banks. The pullback in equities has been associated with a levelling out in …
Bassanese Bites: Good is bad – December 12 2022
Week in review Global equities suffered a setback last week after a few weeks of hopeful gains. Technically, the US S&P 500 tried but failed to break through the downward sloping trend line from the high of earlier this year, along with the 200-day moving average. …
Bassanese Bites: RBA to pause? – December 05 2022
Week in review Global equities lifted for the second week in a row as Fed chair Powell all but confirmed the Fed would only raise rates by 0.5% at its policy meeting next week. Another benign US October inflation report also supported sentiment, with the core …
Bassanese Bites: Twilight zone – November 28 2022
Week in review The third ‘Fed pivot’ trade this year – which essentially has been in place since mid-October – continued last week, with markets still basking in the growing likelihood that the US Federal Reserve will only raise rates by 0.5% at the December policy …
Bassanese Bites: Should we wait? – November 21 2022
Week in review With the tailwind of a good recent US CPI result, global equities tried hard to continue the rally last week – but ended down in the face of the unrelenting headwind of hawkish Fed commentary. Most Fed officials who spoke last week conceded …
Bassanese Bites: Immaculate disinflation? – November 14 2022
Week in review By far, the key market highlight over the past week was the lower-than-expected October US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Core inflation (excluding food and energy) rose by only 0.3% over the month compared with market expectations of 0.5%. After a number of …
Bassanese Bites: CPI test – November 07 2022
Week in review Global equities tried hard to continue to rally last week while the US Fed tried hard to prevent that from happening. The Fed hiked rates by 0.75% as widely expected, and hinted at a likely scaling back to a 0.5% (or even 0.25%) …