Yesterday's session was a volatile one, as news from progress in the negotiations around the conflict in the Middle East came in both directions, moving energy prices and the rest of asset prices. Brent prices closed up by more than 2%, at USD 112/barrel, while TTF prices ended the session flat at EUR 50/MWh.
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With no meaningful progress in the peace negotiations between the US and Iran, market focus shifted toward macroeconomic data releases and earnings results. Investors also remained attentive to President Trump’s arrival in China for talks with President Xi Jinping, where discussions are expected to focus on the implications of the Middle East conflict and on efforts to ease trade tensions between the two countries.
In yesterday’s session, investors traded cautiously focusing their attention on the corporate earnings season and being attentive to the monetary policy path ahead and to the geopolitical risks. In this context, yields on sovereign bonds surged in advanced economies, with the 10-treasury getting closer to 5%.
Market sentiment was mixed on Wednesday. On the one hand, higher-than-expected US inflation data for January (headline: 0.5% mom, 3.0% yoy; core: 3.3% yoy) pushed back market expectations for the next Fed rate cut from early summer to the end of the year, and the probability of a second cut went down to virtually zero.
During Friday's session, sentiment moderated following the recent risk-on momentum, as investors headed into the weekend focused on developments in the Middle East and the prospect of US–Iran talks. Brent crude traded around USD 95/barrel, while TTF gas declined by around 5% to €43/MWh.
Improving prospects of a de-escalation in the Middle East supported risk sentiment, with reports suggesting both the US and Iran may be open to ending the conflict. Sovereign yields fell for a second straight session, as inflation concerns eased, while equities moved higher, led by a strong rally in the US (the S&P 500 saw its largest daily gain since May).
In yesterday's session sovereign bonds took center stage once again. Yields extended their declines both in the euro area and in the US, where higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims pointed to a cooling labor market and gave investors further reasons to believe the Federal Reserve is done hiking rates.
Investors started the week on a downbeat note, with sovereign bond yields falling across the board on both sides of the Atlantic, as expectations grew that major central banks may be done with interest rate hikes. In the Eurozone, however, Lagarde stressed that strong wage growth does not yet allow the ECB to declare victory over inflation.
Investors took a breather from the recent buying spree in government bonds during Thursday’s session, pushing yields higher on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite data releases yesterday showing inflation cooling more than expected in the Eurozone and the US, investors were cautious ahead of comments from some central bankers.
Yesterday, markets traded cautiously amid the uncertainty over negotiations between the US and Iran, as well as lingering concerns around the AI profitability after Nvidia’s results failed to impress the investors. Equity markets moved lower, with losses led by the technology sector.
During yesterday's session, investors continued to digest the implications of the US Supreme Court's ruling to strike down US emergency tariffs. While the global tariff stands at 10%, the Trump administration is reportedly working to increase it to 15%. Against this backdrop, government bond yields closed flat on both sides of the Atlantic, in a day of choppy trading.
Yesterday’s FOMC meeting boosted investor sentiment as the Fed sent a strong signal that the hiking cycle is over and that its members expect at least two rate cuts in 2024 (according to the median of the Dot-plot projections). This caused government bond yields to fall across the board, especially US Treasuries.
Investors traded cautiously ahead of today's FOMC decision (a 25bp interest rate cut is widely discounted) and the BoE on Thursday (expected to hold interest rates at 4.75%). On the macro data front, US retail sales rose 0.6% m/m in November, and in Germany, the IFO expectations index surprised to the downside as confidence in the country continued to weaken.
Investors ended the week focused on the US employment report for June, which signaled the labor market is cooling as job creation slowed and the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.0% to 4.1%. This boosted expectations for two rate cuts this year, which sent Treasury yields lower and stocks higher, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting new record highs.
Markets were mixed in yesterday's session. Global stock markets advanced and U.S. sovereign yields nudged down as the U.S. CPI report did not depress investor expectations about Fed cuts. In Europe, the euro strengthened on the back of a hawkish reading of the ECB's meeting, German sovereign yields nudged up but peripheral spreads ticked down.
The week ended with investors in a risk off mode in the financial markets. In the eurozone, PMI data for France and Germany came in below expectations and below last month's levels, while in the US the index rose slightly from May.
The week began with eurozone investors digesting the results of the French parliamentary elections, in which Le Pen's RN did slightly worse than polls had predicted. Eurozone peripheral spreads tightened, although government bond yields rose as Lagarde said in Sintra that the ECB was in no hurry to cut rates further.
Investors ended the week on a positive note, as risk appetite increased on the back of the ECB’s rate cut, another round of stimulus measures announced by the Chinese authorities, and strong Q3 US corporate earnings.
The week kicked off to a mixed start. US Treasury yields rose after Trump announced on the weekend the US will raise tariffs on steel and aluminium (25% to 50%) and accused China of breaching the trade truce agreement. Separately, the ISM and PMI surveys for May showed delivery times increasing, while prices paid by suppliers remained elevated.
Renewed fears about inflation and fiscal discipline prompted a broad sovereign bond sell-off. The Japanese 20-year bond yield reached levels not seen since 1999, the 30-year UK yield touched highs from 1998, and the yields on the 30-year US Treasury came close to 5%. Risk-off sentiment spread to global stock markets which pared losses during the session.