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This early edition of the Capital Daily outlines our initial thoughts on the market implications of the political drama in Korea. Rarely does a combined sell-off in a country’s stocks, bonds, and currency feel like a relief rally. But the situation in …
4th December 2024
The probable imminent collapse of the French government is not having much impact on bond markets elsewhere in the euro-zone. And we think contagion risks will remain limited, as long as the monetary union itself is not called into question. One of the …
3rd December 2024
President-elect Trump’s latest tariff threat, this time against the “BRICS” economies, is another early taste of his combative approach to trade policy and its potential impact on financial markets. The chance of a BRICS currency (or another alternative) …
2nd December 2024
The spread between 10-year French and German government bond yields has risen again, and we forecast that it will continue to trend up next year. The spread between the yields of 10-year French OATs and German Bunds has surged in recent days, reaching a …
29th November 2024
National inflation data for November released today suggest that euro-zone inflation has edged up this month, but we think this is just a blip. We still expect inflation to drop below target next year and the ECB to cut interest rates by more than …
28th November 2024
We expect the New Zealand dollar to fall against the US and Australian dollars over the next year or so, and fare worse than most – if not all – other G10 currencies. Today’s as-expected 50bp rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) didn’t move …
27th November 2024
We aren’t convinced the outperformance of US small-cap (SC) equities since Donald Trump’s victory on 5 th November sets the tone for the first half of 2025. We doubt they will start to fare better than large-cap (LC) equities over a sustained period until …
26th November 2024
The spread between 10- and 2-year Treasury yields has ‘inverted’ again, partly because the nomination of Bessent as US Treasury secretary has eased fiscal concerns. But we forecast the curve to steepen by more than most expect over 2025 as the Fed …
25th November 2024
November’s weaker-than-expected Flash PMIs for the euro-zone prompted investors to lower their policy rate expectations. Even so, we still expect more easing than implied in money markets, so we think Bund yields will fall a bit further. The euro-zone …
22nd November 2024
Given our expectation that the Trump administration will push forward with plans to raise tariffs across the board, we have generally revised down our forecasts for stock markets outside the US. And with China being the main target of the trade war, we …
21st November 2024
We don’t think the S&P 500’s AI tailwind has run out of puff yet, despite the seemingly lukewarm market reaction to Nvidia’s latest profit result. It’s tempting to see a warning sign for the broader market in the reaction to Nvidia’s latest profit …
Inflation has picked up in the UK but, unlike in the US, we doubt that any worries about stronger price pressures will be sustained. That’s why we still expect Gilt yields to fall. UK CPI inflation , released earlier today, went back above the Bank of …
20th November 2024
We doubt upward pressure on Japan’s long-term bond yields will persist for long, as the Bank of Japan tightens policy by less than investors anticipate and yields in the US remain quite stable. The 10-year JGB yield has risen a lot since October. Despite …
19th November 2024
Although last week’s pull-back in the S&P 500 coincided with a big increase in the 10-year TIPS yield, we don’t think this marks the start of prolonged period of weakness in US equities driven by government bonds. Our view is that the S&P 500 will resume …
18th November 2024
We think that downward pressure on Chinese equities will intensify over the coming year or so, as the boost from largely insufficient fiscal support fades and Trump’s incoming administration proceeds with plans to impose additional tariffs. China’s …
15th November 2024
We expect the Treasury yield curve to steepen further over the coming year, but driven by falling short-dated yields rather than – as has been the case in the wake of Trump’s win – rising long-dated ones. As had been widely expected prior to the election, …
14th November 2024
While investors shrugged off today’s news on US inflation, they seem increasingly concerned about its longer-term outlook. We share their view and expect Treasury yields to rise a bit further still. Today’s inflation release showed that US CPI for October …
13th November 2024
We doubt the S&P 500 will come a cropper in 2025 even though the index fell in 2018 when Donald Trump began to wage a less ambitious trade war than the one he is planning now. Although the S&P 500 was struggling today at the time of writing, it had been …
12th November 2024
The euro has suffered more than most in the wake of Trump’s victory and we doubt that will let up anytime soon. Given our view that tariffs will be imposed next year and the ECB will ease by more than investors expect, we forecast the euro to slide to …
11th November 2024
Could the collapse of Germany’s ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition open the way to more effective governance for Europe’s largest economy? What bearing will political uncertainty have on its financial markets? How will Donald Trump’s pending return …
We expect the policies that will be delivered during Donald Trump’s second term to be a headwind for equities in the US. We still anticipate strong gains next year on the back of growing AI-enthusiasm, but not far beyond as the resulting bubble bursts. …
8th November 2024
With the US election out of the way and markets starting to settle down after some dramatic swings yesterday, attention now turns back to the more humdrum topic of central bank policy and the near-term economic outlook. While the global easing cycle is …
7th November 2024
This early edition of the Capital Daily provides our first thoughts on the market reaction to the likelihood of a second Trump term. The US election has seen a stark shift to the Republican Party, with Trump claiming victory in the Presidential race and …
6th November 2024
Although the outcome of the US election plainly matters for Treasuries, there is a risk of overegging this. After all, a large part of the recent moves in Treasury yields seem to have been due to the economy rather than the election. Our sense is that a …
5th November 2024
Investors are braced for turbulence in the Treasury market, even allowing for the big moves that we’ve already seen in it recently. That’s hardly a surprise, given the result of tomorrow’s election is on a knife-edge and the contrast in the protagonists’ …
4th November 2024
October’s distorted payrolls probably won’t change the outlook for the Fed, which we expect to cut by 25bp next week. Instead, earnings season and the looming US election continue to dominate markets. Treasury yields initially plunged in response to the …
1st November 2024
While inflation in the US and elsewhere has generally converged towards target this year, it might continue to haunt central bankers for a while yet, and in turn keep investors on their toes. There was nothing too scary in the inflation data released …
31st October 2024
The sell-off in the Gilt market after today’s budget announcement in the UK probably reflects concerns that the Chancellor’s fiscal plans will result in an increased a supply of bonds and less monetary easing. We will be reviewing our forecast for Bank …
30th October 2024
With just a week to go in the pivotal US election, the race remains close and markets look increasingly tense. We see three key points to consider as the vote draws nearer. First, while Trump appears to have the momentum, the election is far from a done …
29th October 2024
Equities have held up well in the face of the sell-off in Treasuries over the past month, although they have struggled to break to new highs over the past couple of weeks. But w e doubt that pattern will last; our base case remains that bond yields will …
28th October 2024
We suspect Asian currencies would underperform under a Trump presidency, even if they don’t seem to have been affected worse than others by the apparent rise in his chances of winning lately. At face value, it’s surprising how well Asia’s currencies …
25th October 2024
We think a pick-up in global growth and the further inflation of a US equity bubble mean prospects for euro-zone equities are generally promising, despite sluggish economic growth in the region. European equities have risen, on net, so far today, more so …
24th October 2024
We expect the Japanese yen to bounce back before long, putting more pressure on the Japanese stock market, at least in local currency terms. The Japanese yen has fallen by more than 1% against the US dollar today, adding up to a roughly 8% fall since its …
23rd October 2024
The recent sell-off in long-dated Treasuries and the accompanying ‘bear steepening’ of the curve make sense given recent developments. We continue to think that the former will unwind before too long, though a Trump win would likely lift yields higher. …
22nd October 2024
Australia is exceptional. Monetary easing cycles may be in full swing in many advanced economies, but the Reserve Bank shows no appetite to cut rates yet. Even though headline and core inflation are cooling, the labour market remains too tight for comfort …
The recent outperformance of emerging market equities, relative to their developed market peers, has almost entirely reversed in October and we think this may be a sign of things to come. Chinese equities did not react much to the larger-than-expected …
21st October 2024
With the US election drawing closer and former president Trump’s perceived chances of winning on the rise, financial markets may be starting to shift towards discounting a Trump win. But, in our view, that is still far from fully priced in. Since early …
18th October 2024
The dovish tone at today’s ECB monetary policy meeting supports our view that the ECB will cut by 25bp at the December meeting. However, the risks to our policy rate forecasts are increasingly skewed to the downside. What’s more, we doubt that the easing …
17th October 2024
Falling inflation across developed markets (DM) supports our view that policy rates will generally settle at their neutral levels, close to current market pricing in most DMs. That’s why we expect long-dated bond yields to stay near their current levels. …
16th October 2024
Notwithstanding some weakness today, enthusiasm for tech stocks has returned in recent weeks. We think this enthusiasm will drive the US stock market higher, despite the optimism that is already discounted in equities and the many looming risks. Much of …
15th October 2024
China’s authorities are clearly making an effort to boost the country’s stock market, despite some seeming missteps. But we doubt any further gains will survive very long into next year. The fairly muted reaction in China’s equity markets today were, at …
14th October 2024
We think that the larger rise in yields in the UK than elsewhere over the past month is due to expectations that the Budget will boost demand rather than fiscal fears. That said, there is some upside risk from the Budget to our forecast for gilt yields to …
11th October 2024
A further decoupling of trade ties between the US and China or a sharp rise in Cross-Strait tensions, even if a full-blown conflict is avoided, are two big geopolitical events that we think present a big risk to the health of the “AI bubble” in the US …
The initial market reaction to today’s release of US inflation for September and jobless claims data suggests to us that investors may be more concerned about the latter than about the former. We think both support our view that the 10-year Treasury yield …
10th October 2024
Market participants have largely shrugged off the news that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) may seek a court-ordered break up of Google. Given the snail’s pace at which the US antitrust process moves at, that probably makes sense. Even so, it’s worth …
9th October 2024
China’s offshore equity market plunged today as the latest policy announcement from Beijing disappointed expectations. With much of the low hanging fruit (as far as valuations are concerned) now plucked, we think the bar is quite high now for further …
8th October 2024
The optimism across US equity and corporate bond markets as the labour market proves resilient makes sense to us. We think it will continue, providing a tailwind for those assets. The blockbuster US employment report for September released on Friday …
7th October 2024
The strong reading on the US labour market released today has taken the 10-year Treasury yield towards our end-2024 forecast of 4%. We expect it to stay around this level, though the risks to the upside appear to have increased over recent weeks. Today's …
4th October 2024
The British pound fell sharply today, and we suspect that it will weaken more over the next year or so given our dovish view of Bank of England policy, the currency’s still-high valuation, and stretched speculative positioning. Sterling has dropped by …
3rd October 2024
Since mid-2022, the average stock in the industrials sector has returned more than the average stock in all other sectors of the S&P 500. This raises the question of whether investors have a rose-tinted view of the economy’s future, since industrials has …
