Market Update
Market reaction: January 2016
Equity Markets have started the year on the back foot, with some market commentators publishing very bearish articles that have added to investor risk aversion. While we acknowledge that investment risk has increased, we do not feel compelled to move away from our more sanguine outlook for 2016. We expect this year to be difficult…
Continue readingWeekly Market Update
Notable events over the last week 2016 started off on an inauspicious note which saw $2.3tn wiped off global stocks. China was the main culprit as it fixed the onshore CNY sharply lower, already implying an annual depreciation far beyond market expectations. The Shanghai Composite was down 9.97% by the end of the week and…
Continue readingOutlook for 2016
We expect global economic growth to gradually strengthen over the course of 2016 as consumption in the developed markets picks up, especially in the US, and as China and other emerging economies stabilise. However, growth is likely to stay below longer-term trend levels for a number of cyclical and structural reasons. These include the ongoing…
Continue readingMarket Overview for Q4 2015
The final quarter of 2015 ended the year on a positive note, with many markets reversing the declines they suffered in the preceding period. However, 2015 was a tumultuous year, characterized by diverging regional economic fortunes and policy trends, where positive currency-adjusted returns were difficult to achieve. In regional terms, the best performing equity…
Continue readingFed Interest Rate Rise And The New Normal
The US Federal Reserve interest rate was one of the financial world’s worst kept secrets. The Fed chair Janet Yellen had dropped hints for weeks that the rise was on the way in order not to spook the markets. Then, on cue, she announced hoisting the rate by 0.25% to0.5% – the first increase in…
Continue readingUS Federal Open Market Committee interest rate announcement
Yesterday evening, the Federal Reserve (the ‘Fed’) announced a rise in US interest rates for the first time in 9 years. While this was widely expected, having been continually signposted by the Federal Open Market Committee’s (‘FOMC’) members for some time, it finally removes any lingering uncertainty as to when the process of monetary…
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