The Federal Reserve’s confidence in the economy and its need to continue to gradually increase interest rates stands in sharp contrast to most of the other major central banks. The European Central Bank will finish its asset purchases at the end of the year, but it is in no position to begin to normalize interest …
DOTS in the Week Ahead: Divergence, Oil, Trade and Stocks Read More »
The decline in the global equity market is the most serious since the February and March spill. In this Great Graphic, the white line is the S&P 500. With the setback, it is up a little more than 8% for the year. It managed to recover fully from the sell-off earlier in the year. The fuchsia …
Great Graphic: What is Happening to Global Equities? Read More »
A survey of central banks and sovereign wealth funds by Invesco sheds light on their investment plans. The traditional separation of markets and the state may be helpful for ideological arguments, but the real situation is more complicated. Central banks and their investment vehicles (sovereign wealth funds) are market participants. In some activities, such as …
This Great Graphic was composed on Bloomberg. It shows four stock indices’ performance since the start of the year. It is indexed so that each index started the year at 100. The yellow line is the Dow Jones Stoxx 600, a benchmark of European shares. It peaked a few days before the other markets and …
After the dramatic fall in US equities, Asian equities followed suit. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 3.4% following Monday’s slide of 1.7%. European bourses gapped lower and spent most of the morning moving higher, though large gaps remain. At its worst, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 was off about 3.3%, and at the time …
Recovering US Equities Puts Floor Under Europe after Asia Tanks Read More »
Asian equity markets were weighed down by losses in the US markets ahead of the weekend. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was off 1.4% after the 1.0% pre-weekend loss. The Nikkei gapped lower and shed 2.5% and has fallen in eight of the past nine sessions. The notable exception in Asia was the Shanghai Composite. …
Dollar Consolidates while Equity Rout may be Ebbing Read More »
The chief development in the capital markets has been the sharp drop in equities after a significant rally since late last year and the rise in yields. The dollar had fallen alongside the exuberant appetite for risk assets. Anecdotal evidence supports the idea that the greenback was used as a funding currency to purchase those …
Changing Fortunes in the Capital Markets or Long Overdue Correction? Read More »
Global equities are on the march. US indices shrugged off their first back-to-back weekly decline in three months to set new record highs yesterday. The MSCI Asia-Pacific followed suit and recorded their highest close. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is struggling, as the CAC and DAX are nursing small losses. The synchronized global upturn …
The strength of the Japanese yen puzzles many observers. North Korea’s missile test flew over Japan for the first time in a year. Why would investors buy the yen on such news? There are two types of buying that may be confused. There is the normal buying, which is to increase the exposure to a …
The Russell 2000, which tracks the 2000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000, is threatening to turn positive for the year. It had turned negative in the second half of last week. Many pundits saw its decline and the penetration of the 200-day moving average for the first time in over a year as a …