Toil and trouble “But dawning day new comfort hath inspired,” said Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. The same could not be said at the dawn of the 400th year since the Bard’s death. Instead, markets offered a sobering reminder that the global recovery is beset by challenges. In an echo
One year, many tracks It was every bit the rollercoaster year, not just because volatility has been exceptionally high, but because the major markets around the world tugged in very different directions. The world’s most important stock index, the S&P 500, ended the year up just over
Easing and squeezing The beginning of the new millennium’s first financial crisis is usually dated to the bursting of the housing bubble in the US in 2007; identifying the close of a crisis is a trickier business. Endings are less abrupt and there are numerous indicators
Running low In the US there was growing conviction that this will finally be the week when, for the first time in nine years, the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates. Policymakers start their two-day meeting on Tuesday 15 December and will announce their decision the
Frankfurt – frugal or festive? Investors can forget all too easily that central bank decisions are not necessarily designed to please them, or even to fulfil the consensus expectations of markets. Perhaps, then, it should come as no surprise that, somewhere between Mario Draghi’s advanced signalling and
Seasonal slips So much for turning over a new leaf. The Chancellor’s 2015 Autumn Statement was initially expected to herald unprecedented cuts to both the welfare state and pension tax breaks. In the event, it did neither. Among those now taking part in the collective sigh of
Atlantic rift? What usually matters most to markets about central banks is not so much where they are, as where they are headed. A quick scour of major central banks around the developed world reveals similarly subdued interest rate levels: 0.1% in Japan, 0.05% in the eurozone,
Commodity slide At the time of writing, after falling in early trading, France’s CAC 40 index was showing the resilience and resolve that can be the only response to the horrific attacks by terrorists in Paris on Friday night. The tragedy made even more insignificant other
Taking the lead Sometimes it is indecision, rather than action, that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. So it has been for markets watching the Fed in recent months; until Wednesday, the US central bank had displayed a level of indecision worthy of Hamlet. Last
“The bears are in hibernation,” quipped market strategists as a month dominated by central banks’ activity ended with global markets clawing their way back to near record highs. After a bruising August and September, the FTSE All-World Index gained 8% in October, its biggest monthly
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