Ornament and safeguard? After several weeks of frenzied stock movements claiming newspaper headlines, it came as a relief last week to find attention turning instead to those most ponderous of market makers, the central banks. The S&P 500 and FTSEurofirst 300 both enjoyed steady if unspectacular rises
Done decoupling? Last week investors had to contend with news that major world bourses were in bear market territory – that is, a fall of at least 20% from peak to trough; such headlines generate understandable unease. Yet the stories of markets and economies in 2016
Chinese whispers As equity markets around the world continue their New Year slide, those already invested or thinking of investing might understandably be concerned about what the near-term future holds. Faced with such uncertainty, it is worth remembering some fundamentals, both in terms of the wider
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,
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