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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

There is a clear ‘push and pull’ in markets at the moment between better-than-expected macro reports, unprecedented levels of stimulus, and a potential end to COVID-19 lockdowns vs. stretched valuations and concerns of the impact of interest-rate increases.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Governments across Europe are trying to keep a lid on reopening optimism for now. The extent of the second wave of COVID-19, especially in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Austria and most of Eastern Europe, serves as a reminder of how this virus can spread if governments fail to strike the correct balance between managing social interaction and enabling economies to function. However, the difference between now and pre-second wave is the effective vaccination programme in motion across Europe.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Events in the United States have dominated headlines, with the “blue wave” Democratic Party Senate win putting a focus on further fiscal COVID-19 relief.

Notes from the Trading Desk—Europe

Despite the holiday season looming large, there are still a couple of major catalysts for the markets to watch: Brexit negotiations and the US fiscal developments.