We are seeing many of the old assumptions break down as post-pandemic inflation remains stickier than expected and consumer behaviour evolves, as illustrated in two different opinion pieces that were published this week. To fully understand the landscape, we need to look back to the pandemic. Massive fiscal stimulus, aggressive interest rate cuts, and supply…
While the initial reactions to Wednesday’s Fed rate cut – the first for the year – were muted to slightly negative, US equities markets resumed the trend to be in sync yesterday as the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russel 2000 (the US small-cap index) all hit record…
Russia and Israel both overstepped once sacred geopolitical boundaries this week, but markets have mostly shrugged off the drama. On Tuesday, Israel carried out an airstrike in Doha that targeted Hamas leaders, an unprecedented attack that drew immediate condemnation from Qatar and further inflamed tensions across the region. Separately, in the early hours of Wednesday…
The S&P 500 keeps hitting fresh record highs and is up nearly 11% for the year to date. This is a remarkable turnaround from the “Liberation Day” crash in April, when the S&P 500 fell by more than 11% over five days. Even more noteworthy is that this rally has unfolded against the backdrop of…
Emerging markets have been a neglected market sector by investors for a number of years, but they are coming back into vogue. Stock markets and bonds in emerging market countries are benefitting from fresh inflows as investors around the world hunt for undervalued stock opportunities and higher yields. US dollar weakness, expectations for Fed rate…
Markets are on tenterhooks as they await the US Federal Reserve’s September interest rate decision. On the one hand, equities have been primed for a rate cut as deep as 50bps based on economic signals such as a slowing labour market. On the other hand, hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation suggests that this is not a foregone…
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices once again set fresh records this week, amid hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, with some suggesting an outsized 0.5% cut. For the Trump administration, that may look like vindication for its economic policies. Scratch beneath the surface, however, and data tells a…
Equities markets continued to hold near record highs this week, with traders ignoring warnings that the risks of a recession in the US are rising. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are trading at near record levels amid optimism about big payoffs from artificial intelligence (AI) investments, a strong second-quarter earnings season, and the growing…
Blowout earnings from Big Tech firms for the second quarter (Q2) offer some validation for the years of heavy investment these companies have made in artificial intelligence (AI). Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft all reported strong results this week that indicate that AI could be a formidable engine for earnings growth in upcoming quarters. Microsoft…
