Market Update

Investment markets and key developments Shares mostly rose over the last week helped by lower-than-expected underlying inflation in the =US which boosted confidence that the Fed was still on track to continue cutting interest rates this year. Japanese shares were the exception reflecting the increasing likelihood that the Bank of Japan will raise rates in the week ahead. The positive global lead also helped boost the Australian share market which is on track for a rise of around 0.3% for the [...]

Investment markets and key developments Global shares were mixed over the last week with a backup in bond yields and a bit of profit taking after a strong run up weighing on US and Eurozone shares leading to small falls. For the week US shares fell 0.6%, Eurozone shares fell 0.2% but Japanese shares rose 1%. Chinese shares fell 1% on the continuing lack of concrete fiscal stimulus details. Australian shares fell 1.5% for the week with profit taking after a [...]

Investment markets and key developments Despite another week of geopolitical noise with the “fall” of the French Government, a few hours of martial law in South Korea and more noise around Trump, global share markets rose helped by solid US economic data and ongoing expectations for rate cuts globally. For the week US shares rose 1% helped on Friday by benign jobs data supporting the case for a December Fed rate cut. Eurozone shares rose 2.9%, Japanese shares rose 2.3% and [...]

Investment markets and key developments Against a backdrop of geopolitical risk and noise, high valuations for shares and an eroding equity risk premium, there is positive momentum underpinning sharemarkets for now including the “goldilocks” economic backdrop, the global bank central cutting cycle, positive earnings growth and expectations of US fiscal spending. US sharemarkets rose by 1.3% over the week (and are up by 24% over the year to date), Australia was up by 0.5% (and up by 9% over the [...]

Investment markets and key developments It was all about the US Presidential election this week. Despite concerns that the election outcome would be extremely close, the Republican victory was stronger than the polls and betting markets were suggesting into the lead up. Trump’s re-election into the White House led to a big rally in share markets (US is up 4.7% over the week to a record high, Australia +2.2%, Eurozone was down by 1.6% and Chinese shares up by 5.5%), [...]

Investment markets and key developments Global share markets rose over the last week helped by the absence so far of an Israeli retaliation against Iran & hopes that it will avoid disrupting oil supplies along with optimism for a continuation of “Goldilocks” - not too hot not too cold - economic conditions. For the week US shares rose 1.1% also helped by solid bank results kicking off the September quarter earnings reporting season, Eurozone shares rose 0.7% and Japanese shares gained [...]

Investment markets and key developments Global share markets were mixed over the last week as the war in the Middle East escalated further with Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on Israel and investors nervously waiting to see whether Israel’s response will threaten global oil supplies but solid US jobs data signalling that the US economy remains resilient providing support on Friday. For the week US shares gained 0.2% as the resilient jobs data pushed it back into positive territory, but Eurozone shares [...]

Investment markets and key developments Sharemarkets continued to rally this week, with the US and Australia at new records again, propelled by the US Federal Reserve’s 50 basis point cut to interest rates (the first for this cycle) and solid US economic data indicating that the economy is holding up. Shares rose despite the escalating tensions in the Middle East and poor seasonality that usually occurs in September for equity markets. US shares were up 1.4%, Australia 1.4%, Eurozone 0.6%, Japan [...]

Investment markets and key developments Markets were up this week, follow some weakness in the prior one. US economic data reinforced signals that the Fed will be cutting by 25 basis points next week but again no signs that the US economy is deteriorating significantly. The US S&P500 rose by 3.5% over the week, and is only 1% shy of its record high. The ASX200 was up by 1% and is nearly touching its all time high. Eurozone and Japanese shares [...]

Investment markets and key developments Economic data over the week was mixed, but mostly in line with softening, but not collapsing economic activity. Markets were waiting for the official US August non-farm which came out on Friday as a guide to whether the Fed will be cutting by 25 or 50 basis points at its upcoming meeting (on 18th September) and also to gauge the pace of the softening in the US economy but the data ended up being in a [...]