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It’s perhaps surprising that financials have outperformed the S&P 500 during the recent bout of market turbulence . (See Chart 1.) After all, Treasury yields have fallen and the outlook for the US economy has darkened, both of which might have been …
27th August 2024
Fed Chair Powell’s dovish keynote speech at the Jackson Hole conference today has reinforced the sense that not only are FOMC rate cuts imminent, but they may also be front-loaded. That suggests downside risks to our forecasts for US Treasury yields and …
23rd August 2024
Even though Treasury yields have edged up today ahead of Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole tomorrow, we think there’s still some scope for them to rise further, as we think too much easing is now discounted in money markets. That said, we don’t think …
22nd August 2024
We think Asian currencies will generally continue to rise against the US dollar over time, albeit perhaps not quite as quickly as they have lately. A lot of attention has focused lately on the rally of the Japanese yen. But it’s worth taking note of the …
21st August 2024
Nearly all of the pullback in the S&P 500 since the bout of rotation in the stock market began in the wake of June’s CPI report on 11 th July has now been reversed. Admittedly, the same cannot be said for the rotation itself. But we remain of the view …
20th August 2024
While we expect the yen to rise further this year and next, we think this won’t stop Japanese stocks from making gains, even in local-currency terms. The Japanese yen has risen by roughly 1% against the US dollar today. This seems to reflect a general …
19th August 2024
The relief felt in markets over the past week or so as worries about the US economy have dissipated makes sense to us. So we expect the rebound in equity markets to continue . The market reaction (or lack thereof ) to US data released this week supports …
16th August 2024
We think there is better news on China’s economy in the pipeline that could underpin a rally in its lowly valued stock market. But in our view there is less scope for gains in China’s bonds. The CSI 300 Index registered a ~1% gain today, following the …
15th August 2024
The muted reaction to today’s US CPI data reflects that most investors already expected inflation to fall to around 2% before long and remain there. But last week’s turmoil highlighted that when everyone is banking on one outcome – in this case, inflation …
14th August 2024
The further rally in stock markets today leaves both valuations and earnings looking consistent with a “soft landing” in the US. So it would not take much for equities to struggle if the economy were to deteriorate – although that isn’t our base case. The …
13th August 2024
While a big reduction in speculative positioning against the Japanese currency may mean that future moves in global financial markets will be less extreme than recent ones, it doesn’t preclude more turbulence if, e.g., this week’s US data disappoint. Much …
12th August 2024
At Banxico’s meeting yesterday, worries over the weakness in the Mexican economy outweighed concerns over the sell-off in the Mexican peso and prompted the central bank to restart its easing cycle. Banxico’s disregard for the peso’s depreciation seems …
9th August 2024
Financial markets have generally now unwound about half of the big moves from late last week and early this week, helped by jobless claims data today soothing concerns over a US economic recession. In some cases, we expect these recoveries to continue; …
8th August 2024
We’re not so sure the yen’s gains are done, even though it sagged earlier today. The yen has today continued to unwind Monday’s rally, with the latest headwind being some dovish comments from Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) Deputy Governor. Among other things, the …
7th August 2024
Sentiment has improved in Asian markets today, especially in Japan where equities have rallied very strongly. We think there are a few observations worth noting of relevance for global markets. First, we’re still sceptical that the unwinding of the yen …
6th August 2024
The yen surged today, and some Asian equity indices plunged, as investors worried about a “hard landing” in the US economy. We think there are two key questions to consider. First, could the yen rally any further? It has now surpassed our long-held …
5th August 2024
Renewed fears of a US recession have increased the chances of additional rate cuts from the Fed. But we don’t think that the US economy will stand in the way of an equity rally for much longer. The US Employment Report for July released today seemingly …
2nd August 2024
Bond yields have fallen in the US and the UK after the Fed signalled an imminent rate cut and the Bank of England delivered one. But only in the UK do we see more room down for yields. US Treasury yields have fallen further following the Fed meeting …
1st August 2024
The latest rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has implications for domestic and global markets – we think there are several points to note. Today’s decision by the BoJ to tighten policy by more than discounted in the markets was accompanied by a …
31st July 2024
Today’s release of inflation and activity data for the euro-zone has in our view slightly reduced the chances of a cut from the ECB at its next meeting. However, the bigger picture is that the data released over the past month still suggest to us that a …
30th July 2024
The lack of much reaction on net in markets to today’s statement by the UK’s new Chancellor suggests to us that investors remain confident in the Labour Party’s commitment to fiscal discipline. But the disputed ‘revelation’ that the country’s public …
29th July 2024
Despite the possibility that the unwinding of the yen “carry trade” has amplified the global stock market sell-off lately, we think equity prices could rebound even if the yen continued to strengthen. The simultaneity of the yen’s recent rally and the …
26th July 2024
We think that, in the absence of a recession, “big tech” stocks will regain the lead before long, regardless of the pace of falling inflation. US stock markets have taken a glass half-full view of today’s key US data release , which revealed that both US …
25th July 2024
Today’s sell-off in the US stock market in the wake of a poor reception to yesterday’s results from the first two members of the ‘Magnificent 7’ to report during this earnings season is likely to have reassured those arguing we are in the early stages of …
24th July 2024
We think there are a number of factors supporting the recent rally in US bank shares, not just the rotation out of tech stocks. So, while we doubt this rotation is here to stay, we think bank stocks will recover further ground on other ‘non-tech’ sectors. …
23rd July 2024
President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his re-election bid adds another element of uncertainty to the election campaign, but it is unlikely, by itself, to alter the calculus facing market participants. Biden’s withdrawal (unprecedented for a sitting …
22nd July 2024
We expect Japan’s stock market to continue to struggle in yen terms, but to fare better in US dollar terms over the rest of the year. Asian equities have succumbed to the sell-off in global tech stocks this week. But in Japan’s case, the strengthening yen …
19th July 2024
Investors’ expectations for ECB rate cuts have not changed much over recent months and today’s meeting did little to change that. Instead, euro-zone assets have been influenced more by French politics of late; and while contagion concerns have eased, we …
18th July 2024
A recent surge in the Russell 2000 after the US CPI report for June was published last week has prompted claims that we are entering the initial stage of a secular rotation into US small-cap stocks. We are not convinced, for four reasons. First, what has …
17th July 2024
We expect short-term US Treasury yields to keep falling more rapidly than long-term ones, eventually putting an end to more than two years of an inverted yield curve. Despite a small rebound today after strong retail sales data were published, short-term …
16th July 2024
Recent events have increased the perceived likelihood of another Trump presidency and, in the process, provided a clearer steer on how market participants expect such an outcome to affect key financial markets. Four key points stand out. First, between …
15th July 2024
We think the rally in Treasuries and pullback in the dollar since US CPI data was released yesterday have further to run. But we doubt the big rotation within equities yesterday is a sign of things to come. The reaction to US CPI data , released …
12th July 2024
Another fairly encouraging US CPI report seems unlikely to blow the buoyant S&P 500 far off course given the implications for Fed policy. Indeed, it strengthens the case for a rate cut in September. Our base case is that the economic backdrop will remain …
11th July 2024
We think that corporate bonds will continue to underperform equities, as credit spreads are already low, economic growth moderates, and equities benefit more from enthusiasm about AI. After spiking in the first two weeks of June, credit spreads have …
10th July 2024
In the wake of the political tumult in France contrasting with newfound stability in the UK, the outlook for the exchange rate between the euro and sterling has come into spotlight. We think that yield differentials will play a much more important role …
9th July 2024
The surprising results of the French legislative elections have not triggered much of a market reaction. While investors appear to have been relieved by the far-right National Rally (RN)’s failure to be in a position to govern, the strong showing of the …
8th July 2024
We expect Treasury yields to fall a bit further, but we doubt that will lead to a weaker dollar. At first glance, the US Employment Report for June , released today, seemed to bring good news on the economic front, with a stronger-than-expected gain in …
5th July 2024
The US ISM services data published yesterday suggested that US economic growth slowed in June. Even so, the S&P 500 index surged on the news. And we think it will rise much further, as stock market performance increasingly decouples from the real economy, …
4th July 2024
Recent developments have brought the global spotlight onto sovereign bonds in India and China. We expect the former to fare the best of the two. We’ve written lately about the relative prospects for equities in India and China, arguing in favour of the …
3rd July 2024
Despite the continued depreciation of the yen so far this year, we still expect it to rebound against the greenback supported by its relatively low valuation and the start of the easing cycle in the US. Although the yen has remained stable today against …
2nd July 2024
Investors have welcomed the broadly unsurprising results of the first round of the French legislative elections, but the discount on French financial assets is still there and, in our view, likely to stay. The final results of the election’s first round …
1st July 2024
Incumbent President Biden’s uneven performance during the debate yesterday with his predecessor and challenger, Donald Trump, has reduced Biden’s perceived chance of winning re-election significantly. Financial markets have not reacted much to this …
28th June 2024
The last US tech bubble inflated in a different way to this one. A comparison of the two leads us to conclude that this bubble will continue to inflate , despite the recent wobble in Nvidia’s share price . To re-cap, forward twelve month (FTM) earnings …
27th June 2024
Although it’s showed little signs of it lately, we still expect the yen to rebound against the dollar. The yen’s recent struggles have left it its weakest level against the US dollar since the 1980s. Given that the USD/JPY rate has breached 160, where the …
26th June 2024
Nvidia has entered correction territory, but we doubt this will mark the beginning of the end of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence (AI). Instead, this might usher in a new phase of a bubble we expect will keep inflating in the next year or so. …
25th June 2024
Nearly all major emerging market (EM) currencies have fallen against the US dollar so far this year, but we think the downside for most of these currencies is limited from here. While most EM currencies are starting the week on a strong note, they have a …
24th June 2024
Weaker-than-expected euro-zone PMIs in June leave us confident in our view that bund yields will edge down over the coming months, while we doubt spreads will fall back much in France or Italy. This also supports our view that the euro will remain on the …
21st June 2024
Despite the many twists and turns in bond markets this month amid mixed signals from central banks, most sovereign bonds in developed markets (DM) have rallied on net. We expect this to continue, with yields falling further in the coming months. The three …
20th June 2024
The US stock market has hit another fresh all-time high, with its ascent is an increasingly lonely one driven by a handful of its constituents. That pattern may be difficult to sustain indefinitely, but we remain optimistic about the outlook for US …
19th June 2024
Although the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) – which left policy on hold today – looks set to be the last developed market central bank to join the easing cycle now underway among developed economies, we think more important for long-term bond markets …
18th June 2024
