Search results

The military operations of Russia in Ukraine centered the stage in yesterday’s session and investors traded on a risk-off mood. Stock indices declined in the euro area, Asia and Latin America, while US equities rose, as they already declined in the previous session. Russian equities fell by almost 50%.

In yesterday's volatile session, investors remained concerned about the implications the Russian-Ukrainian conflict can have on economic activity and inflation. Nevertheless, rumors that the EU is discussing a plan to increase the joint issuance of bonds benefited risk perception in Europe.

In yesterday’s session, investor sentiment improved and preference for riskier assets rose ahead of today’s meeting in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia foreign ministers. In addition, a Ukraine top foreign policy aide insisted that Ukraine is ready for a diplomatic solution. Brent and European gas prices moderated.

During a volatile session, financial markets experienced risk-off flows, as investors took on board another round of hawkish commentaries from various Fed officials, weak sentiment data in Europe and escalating tensions around Ukraine. Today, officials from NATO and EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss new sanctions to Russia.

In yesterday's session, investors' sentiment worsened amid mixed signals in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian talks, concerns about gas supplies in Germany and rising inflationary pressures in the euro area. In Germany and in Spain, inflation rose in March to 7.6% and 9.8%, led by an increase in energy prices.

Investors ended the week with mixed results, balancing out a solid employment report in the US (payrolls rose by 431.000 in March and the jobless rate fell to 3.6%) with upside surprises in inflation in the eurozone (HICP went up by 7.5% y/y in March). Ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine also remained in focus.

Investors ended the week with cautious optimism, with equity indices rising across Europe and emerging markets but with mixed results in the US. Bank shares continued to outperform, reflecting expectations of a more aggressive interest rate normalization in advanced economies.

Investors started the week with no clear direction, as traders digested mixed signals from the GDP data in China and corporate results in the US. Financial markets were closed across Europe, Australia and Hong Kong.

During a volatile session, markets closed with mixed results, as investors digested a mix of hawkish comments by central bank officials, upbeat corporate earnings reports, positive macro data (e.g. consumer confidence in the eurozone) and a good showing by incumbent French President Macron at a TV debate against FN Le Pen.

Investors started the week trading with a risk-off mood following the announcement of lockdowns in several parts of Beijing. In this context, stock indices declined in the euro area and in emerging economies while late trading in the US, boosted by dip buyers, led the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to advance.

On Friday, investors digested key economic data releases in the euro area: GDP growth in Q1 decelerated from 0.3% to 0.2% and inflation ticked up from 7.4% in March to 7.5% in April. Nevertheless, the focus of the inflation figures was on the core index, which rose from 2.9% to 3.5% in a sign that inflation is rising across all the components.

On Friday, investors traded cautiously as they continued to assess the economic outlook for the main advanced economies. Stock indices rose modestly in the euro area while, in a volatile session, the S&P 500 closed barely flat. Emerging economies’ indices registered solid advances.

A positive start of the week across financial markets, with sentiment boosted by resilient survey data in Europe and a relaxation of COVID restrictions in China. Markets were closed in the US due to a public holiday.

Inflation and monetary policy continued to center financial markets’ stage in yesterday’s session. Euro area HICP surprised again to the upside and reinforced the views of those in the ECB Governing Council pushing for a 50bp interest rate hike in July.

Fears of an economic recession with persistent inflationary pressures continued to weight on investors’ sentiment on Friday, following somewhat feeble economic survey data in the US (the ISM manufacturing slowed down from 56.1 to 53.0 in June) and another increase in eurozone HICP inflation (from 8.1% y/y to 8.6% y/y in June).

Risk aversion returned to the fore during a volatile session on Tuesday, as investors reassessed the risk of a global recession amid ongoing disruptions in gas supply in Europe and reports of new COVID cases in some regions in China.

Investors continued to trade with cautious on Wednesday, taking on board mixed economic data and the hawkish signals in the minutes of the last meeting by the Federal Reserve. European natural gas prices continued to edge higher, despite the intervention by Norway’s government to end an energy workers’ strike.

In yesterday’s session, investors’ concerns of a decelerating economy spiked after worse-than-expected sentiment data in Germany and the euro area and comments from Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin.

Investors' sentiment continued to improve yesterday following reports that Russia is willing to restart natural gas exports tomorrow, after the maintenance break. On monetary policy, a report suggesting that the ECB might consider a 50bp hike on Thursday pushed interest rates higher in the euro area.

Italian politics and European natural gas developments centered the stage in yesterday’s session. On the one hand, Draghi’s coalition government failed to pass the confidence vote, increasing the odds of snap elections this autumn.