Beyond Bulls & Bears

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

The European economy is recovering fast from the COVID-19 recession. The relaxation in COVID-related restrictions has resulted in sharp growth in both services and manufacturing. The reflation trade appeared to be re-emerging.

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe

The primary focus for investors last week was the Fed meeting and the market impact thereafter. As expected, the Fed kept rates unchanged, but id give new guidance for their expected path of rate hikes (the “dot plot”) and revised their inflation expectations.

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe

Given the presence of some temporary factors driving inflation data, the markets are telling us investors are happy to run with the Federal Reserve’s narrative that inflationary pressures are transitory. We see this view reflected across asset classes.

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk – Europe

The debate around rising inflation and the potential impact on central bank policy has been the key driver for financial markets of late, and last week was no exception.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Global equities traded marginally lower last week, with much of the focus at a company level as first quarter (Q1) earnings season progresses. Despite strong earnings and record beats, there was lacklustre price action, with significant divergence in each region.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Equities globally were lackluster last week, with Europe underperforming amid a position-driven selloff. Outside of the obvious continuing focus on the pandemic and vaccine rollouts, there was little in the way of broad market themes, which in turn saw focus shifting to technical factors and company specifics amidst the first-quarter earnings season.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

The spread of COVID-19 infections in continental Europe and how governments are managing it continues to contribute heavily to the market push and pull we’ve seen in recent weeks and months.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Equities in the United States and Europe continued their grind higher in a holiday-shortened week, which led to lighter volumes and newflow last week. Concerns over rising COVID-19 cases were a concern in a number of countries.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

The COVID-19 situation in Europe remains precariously balanced, which weighed on reopening hopes. The grounded tanker in the Suez Canal also continues to attract attention, with media reports suggesting nearly 200 ships carrying US$10 billion of goods were stalled as a result of the blockage.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Talk of a third wave of new COVID-19 cases increased across the European Union last week, with France reimposing lockdown in Paris, and German health officials stating cases are accelerating ‘exponentially’. The picture for the UK economy looks more encouraging. New cases remain far below January highs and hospital numbers continue to fall sharply.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Last week saw stabilisation in European government bond yields, which in turn, led to rotation back into some of the more recent losers, and defensive stocks. Alongside this, the reopening trade was firmly in play.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe
Equity

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Last week, volatility in bond yields remained a key driver for equity market sentiment. In particular, mid-week commentary from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell was a key talking point.