FinSec Post

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares were mostly soft over the last week. Chinese shares had a decent 4.1% gain, but US shares were flat thanks to a soft jobs report on Friday while Eurozone shares fell 2% not helped by renewed Brexit concerns. Meanwhile Japanese shares lost 1.1% on disappointment about the lack of more fiscal easing just yet and Australian shares fell 1.6% weighed down by a fall in the iron ore price and worries [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Most share markets had a good week helped by improved confidence regarding US growth, increasing signs that the global oil market is rebalancing, helping the oil price and energy shares, and Greece and its creditors agreeing a new debt deal. US shares rose 2.3%, Eurozone shares gained 3.4%, Japanese shares rose 0.6%, Australian shares gained 1% but Chinese shares fell 0.5%. Oil and metal prices gained and the Australian dollar fell as [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Financial markets saw a bout of renewed worries about US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate hikes in the past week but shares managed to shrug it off and end higher. Over the week US and European shares rose 0.3%, Japanese shares rose 2% helped by a fall in the yen, Chinese shares inched up 0.1% and Australian shares rose 0.4% led by health care and energy shares. In fact, for the year-to-date [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets had a mixed ride over the last week with ongoing global growth fears and messy US earnings news. US shares lost 0.5% and Chinese shares remained under pressure falling another 3%. However, Eurozone shares gained 0.5%, Japanese shares rose 1.9% helped by a lower Japanese yen and Australian shares gained 0.7% with the recent Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate cut continuing to help. Bond yields generally fell, commodity prices [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets had a messy week as the return of growth worries weighed, with Japanese shares down 3.4%, Eurozone shares down 2.6%, Chinese shares down 0.9% and US shares losing 0.4%.Despite falls in commodity prices and some earnings downgrades from the banks, including one cutting its dividend, Australian shares rose 0.8% helped by the RBA's rate cut and an implicit easing bias in its statement on monetary policy (SOMP). Global growth concerns [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Most share markets pulled back a bit over the last week, not helped by some disappointing earnings results from US tech stocks and surprise inaction by the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Shares had become overbought so were due a bit of a pause or pull back. US shares fell 1.3%, Eurozone shares lost 2.5%, Japanese shares fell 5.2% and Chinese shares fell 0.7% but Australian shares gained 0.3%. This wrapped up a [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets mostly continued to move higher over the last week, as growth fears continued to recede and the oil price managed to push another 8% higher, despite the failure of OPEC and Russia in Doha to agree a production freeze. US shares only rose 0.5%, but European shares (+2%), Japanese shares (+4.3%) and Australian shares (+1.5%) played catch-up, with the Australian share market almost getting back to where it ended 2015. [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets pushed higher over the last week helped by better than feared US earnings results, good economic data and a continued unwinding of disaster fears from early this year. US shares rose 1.6%, Eurozone shares gained 4%, Japanese shares rose 6.5%, Chinese shares rose 3.1% and Australian shares gained 4.5%. The US share market is now up 1.8% year to date. The "risk on" tone saw bond yields and commodity prices [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares markets fell over the last week, as global growth worries seemingly returned despite mostly okay economic data, and minutes from the US Federal Reserve's (the Fed) last meeting affirming that it will be cautious in raising interest rates. Japanese shares fell 1.1%, getting hit by a further 7% rise in the value of the Yen. US, European and Australian shares all fell 1.2%, with worries about banks continuing to weigh on [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week The "risk on" rally fired up again in US shares over the last week, helped by dovish comments from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Janet Yellen and good news on US jobs and manufacturing, the combination of which pushed the US dollar and global bond yields down and US shares up 1.8% for the week. Chinese shares also rose 1% for the week, helped by optimism that the Chinese economy may be [...]