FinSec Post

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a rough week on the back of a continuation of the global bond sell-off, some soft US data earlier in the week, comments by Fed Chair Yellen regarding equity valuations and concerns regarding Greece. However, while Chinese shares ended down 5.3%, Japanese shares lost 0.8% and Australian shares fell 3.1%, US and Eurozone shares rallied strongly on Friday in response to "just right" US jobs data. So over the week [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a soft week reflecting a combination of somewhat messy economic data, uncertainty about the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and a backup in Eurozone bond yields. There is also an element of profit taking after recent strong gains, particularly in Europe and Japan. US shares fell 0.4%, Eurozone shares lost 2.7% and Japanese shares fell 3.3%. Australian shares lost 2% after failing to break through the 6000 level for the fourth [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a good week helped by reasonable economic data, better than feared US earnings, some slightly better news on Greece and further monetary easing in China. US shares rose 1.8%, Eurozone shares gained 1.2%, Japanese shares gained 1.9%, Chinese shares rose 2.5% and Australian shares rose 0.9%. While gold and metal prices fell, oil and iron ore prices rose with the latter helped by news that BHP will slow its iron [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Global shares are still favoured for 2015 given their attractive valuations and the very easy monetary policy stance of central banks. Global shares are much more appealing on a risk-reward basis compared to very low government bond yields. While there is the prospect of a significant global share correction sometime in 2015, low global interest rates and gradually improving global growth should remain strong positives for global shares. The known threats from [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Shares had a good run over the last week helped by continued reasonable economic data, merger & acquisition (M&A) activity and confirmation from the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) that it's more likely to raise interest rates in September than June. US shares rose 1.7%, Eurozone shares gained 3%, Japanese shares rose 2.4% and Australian shares gained 1.2%. Chinese shares continued to push higher gaining 4.4%, but shares in Hong Kong rose [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Global shares were okay over the last week, but would probably have been messy if they had been open when the weak US payroll figures were released on Friday. US shares managed to rise 0.3% through the Easter Friday shortened week, although share futures that were briefly open on Friday fell 1% in response to the payroll report. Eurozone shares gained 1.1% helped by solid data, Japanese shares rose 0.8% and Chinese [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week Share markets had a rough week with uncertainty about the Fed, profit taking in US tech stocks, nervousness ahead of the coming US March quarter profit reporting season, worries about Saudi air strikes on Yemen and uncertainty about Greece all weighing at various points. US shares fell 2.2%, Eurozone shares fell 1.3%, Japanese shares lost 1.4% and Australian shares fell 0.9%. Chinese shares managed to gain 2%, though they were helped by [...]

Investment markets and key developments over the past week The past week was messy and volatile in financial markets as Federal Reserve (Fed) worries waxed and waned, the US dollar surged to its highest since 2003, the European Central Bank (ECB) commenced quantitative easing and Chinese economic data was softer than expected. Against these cross currents, US shares fell 0.9% and Australian shares lost 1.4%, but Eurozone shares rose 1.4%, Japanese shares gained 1.5% and Chinese shares rose 4.1%. Bond yields [...]