In yesterday's session, weaker-than-expected US retail sales in December combined with expected lower consumption due to harsh winter conditions, reinforced expectations of interest rate cuts during the year, with the first one occurring in June. Today key employment data will be released which should add further clarity on the interest-rate path.
Resultats de la cerca
In yesterday's session, investors weighed mixed corporate earnings results with better-than-expected flash January PMIs. In particular, the composite indices for the euro area and the US edged up from 49.3 and 45.0 to 50.2 and 46.6, respectively. Both sectors, services and manufacturing, registered an improvement from the previous month.
Yesterday session was risk-on, with global stocks advancing, led by Japan, where the Nikkei-225 registered gains of nearly 4% after the Liberal Democratic Party obtained the supermajority in the Lower House elections, allowing prime minister Sanae Takaichi to continue pursuing expansionary fiscal policies.
In the last session of the week, equity markets edged modestly higher, despite lingering doubts over the return on Big Tech investment in AI and questions around the robustness of corporate fundamentals, set against a backdrop of generally supportive macroeconomic data.
Investors traded in an apparent risk-on mood in yesterday's session, with both stocks and sovereign yields rising across the board. Commodity prices also increased across energy, metals and agriculture products. In FX markets the USD wavered and the EUR traded close to $1.18. Market sentiment benefited from the announcement of a U.S.-Vietnam trade deal.
Investors traded cautiously in the last session of the week and stock indices rose mildly in most euro area trading floors and in the US (where the S&P 500 reached a new record high).
The main stock markets in advanced and emerging economies registered gains, with the exception of the Portuguese PSI and the Shanghai Index.
The last session of the week was marked by the announcement of the Italian 2019's fiscal deficit target (2.4% of GDP), which weighted on most European assets.
Financial markets recorded a positive start of the week, as investors increased the likelihood that the Fed will postpone the decision about when to start tapering its asset purchases.
In yesterday’s session, global stock markets advanced as investors increased risk appetite following reports about a Chinese stimulus to support the local stock market, a better-than-expected earnings season in the U.S. so far, and a favorable US PMI reading. Sovereign bond yields edged lower in the euro area and slightly rose in the U.S.
US headline inflation rose to 2.7% (2.4% in May) and core inflation rose 0.1pp to 2.9%. A detailed breakdown showed prices have begun to rise in some goods categories, suggesting tariffs are beginning to impact. Investors pushed expectations of the first rate cut from September to October, and Treasury yields rose along the curve. The dollar slightly strengthened.
With investor focus on the tech sector, equity markets moved lower during the session. US stock indices posted modest losses, with tech stocks under pressure as investors continued to digest Q4 earnings results. European indices were weighed by losses in business software companies amid concerns over the potential disruptive impact of AI on their business models.
Financial markets ended the week on a positive tone, on the back of better-than-expected Q3 corporate results and economic data releases in the U.S. In particular, retail sales rose by 0.7% mom in September, well above the Bloomberg consensus (0.2% decline).
Markets had a mixed session yesterday. Sovereign yields continued to decline across the U.S. and euro area, while the EUR crawled back above $1.17 and touched a 10-day high. European stock markets were mixed while the U.S.' S&P 500 wavered. This morning Japan's Nikkei rallied on the back of a U.S.-Japan trade deal that would set tariffs on Japan at 15% (incl. cars).
Driven mainly by the trade tensions of the U.S. with China and, more recently, Mexico, stock indices in advanced economies declined, the price of gold rose and the Japanese Yen appreciated, in a canonical example of a risk-off session.
In yesterday’s session, investors traded with a risk-on mood as the US Senate passed a bill that averted a government shutdown. The bill still has yet to pass the House of Representatives, but if it succeeds, the Federal government will be able to fund itself until early March.
Risk aversion continued to dominate in yesterday's session, with the key themes remaining the COVID situation in China and hawkish comments by central bank officials. In the euro area, both Christine Lagarde and Joachim Nagel said that inflation will remain elevated and might not have peaked yet, justifying a tighter monetary policy stance.
In Tuesday’s session, investors continued to focus on the narrative that US growth is slowing and that the next move by major central banks will be to cut interest rates at some point next year. This extended the market’s risk-on sentiment of recent weeks, with government bond yields falling across the board and major equity indices rising.
Risk aversion continued to set the tone during a volatile session on Tuesday, as a better-than-expected sentiment data in the US revived concerns among investors about the pace of monetary policy tightening by the Fed.
U.S. equity markets reached new highs, led by technology, as sovereign yields declined after producer prices fell more than expected in August (-0.1% m/m), driven by lower services prices. The data reinforced market expectations of a Fed rate cut next week. In Europe, major indices closed mixed, with the notable gains in the IBEX-35 and the defense sector.