Insights
Japan Q4 2015 Overview
During the quarter, market participants that expected the BoJ to provide further monetary stimulus were disappointed as it maintained its current asset purchase programme (although it added some minor supplementary measures in December). In justifying the relative lack of action, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pointed to improved underlying inflationary trends in the domestic economy, notwithstanding…
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US Q4 2015 Overview
In early October, market expectations of a 2015 US interest rate rise were low. This reflected the FOMC’s cautious stance at its September meeting, which it had justified on the basis of events in China and the negative effect they would have on global growth, inflation and market stability. However, this soon changed following rhetoric…
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Expats Could Face A Ban On UK Welfare Benefits
Expats could face a loss of state welfare as MPs consider a reserve strategy if Prime Minister David Cameron fails to secure a deal to stop migrants claiming benefits with the European Union. Part of Cameron’s main demands is that European migrants will face a ban on claiming benefits if they come to the UK…
Continue readingMarket 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…
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Performance of Emerging markets during 2015
China’s economy showed some signs of stabilisation during the period and this helped its stock market make gains after a particularly turbulent third quarter. The stabilisation occurred amid significant government policy support in the form of currency intervention, interest rate cuts, increases in fiscal spending and reductions of the bank reserve requirement ratio (the proportion…
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Weekly 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…
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