Global equity markets tapped the brakes yesterday in the US after their recent steep ascent there as we await an important FOMC meeting tomorrow, with the pace of the intended QE tapering from the Fed a key question for the market. Overnight, the Australian Reserve Bank abandoned its yield curve...
Crypto Weekly: The elephant in the room
In just a year, a cryptocurrency launched as a joke, has advanced to be the ninth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of close to $40bn, followed by another joke cryptocurrency being the 10th largest cryptocurrency, underlining the speculative fever in the crypto market.Shiba Inu from $0 to $50bn in...
FX Update: It’s FOMC week as central bank sway craters.
The wild ride last week for the Euro in the wake of the ECB meeting and in how the market is pricing future ECB policy relative to its own guidance points to very interesting tests this week for the RBA, which meets tonight, and of course for the dovish Fed,...
US equity valuations remain resilient; Sony zooms in on dot-com record
Equities are making new all-time highs despite a range of risks rising such as China slowing down, profit margins declining from rising input costs, and inflation expectations destined to cause yields to surge higher.Despite inflation expectations are rising faster than nominal yields, China is slowing down, and a new potential...
COT: Funds remain cautious despite rising commodity prices
The COT reports published weekly by the US CFTC highlight futures positions and changes made by hedge funds across commodities, forex and financials during the latest reporting week to last Tuesday, October 26. A week where healthy risk appetite continued to send stocks higher while keeping the dollar unchanged. The...
Central banks losing control of the narrative?
Today we look at what unfolded last week as the markets seemed forced to price central bank policy tightening significantly higher, sometimes against the banks' own guidance, suggesting that central bankers may be losing control of the narrative. A key test on that front with tonight's RBA meeting and on...
Market Quick Take – November 1, 2021
A wild finish for markets last week, as markets rushed to reprice the risk of more significant and earlier rate tightening than previously expected, which Friday saw the US dollar rushing back to the strong side against the euro in particular, while global equity markets brushed off the hawkish monetary...
French Election Update : Far Right’s Battle, Purchasing Power and Pension Reform
The far right's big battle continues. The National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen and the independent far right candidate Eric Zemmour are neck-to-neck in polls. Emmanuel Macron is still ahead of the crowd. He is likely to declare his candidacy in the last stage of the 2022 presidential campaign, perhaps...
Commodity weekly: Oil and metals trade lower as gas and coal tank
The final week of October yielded mixed results across the different commodity markets and sectors. As the month wore on, investors started to become somewhat risk adverse given the amount of incoming data pointing towards slower growth around the world. Some of the slowdown is being driven directly by elevated...
FX Update: Market thumbing its nose at central banks.
The ECB is the latest central bank to suffer the market second guessing its intentions as rate hike bets for next year rose to cycle highs even as ECB President Lagarde pushed back against the market pricing these rate moves. The Euro rose in response, with EURUSD trading above local...