A week that’s (so far) under-delivered: Anything can happen in the space of 24-hours in financial markets. But as we enter the final day of trade in global markets for the week, activity today is shaping up as being just as tepid as that which we’ve experienced in the week’s first four days. It was hoped some new, market-moving information may have been delivered in what was a back-loaded week. Afterall, there was no shortage of event risk. However, thus far, despite a litany of risk events, man
The British economy managed to grow in the month of February as manufacturers are said to have increased stockpiling in preparation for the original Brexit deadline of March 29. GDP grew 0.2% MoM in February, despite predictions of economic stagnation amid fears of a global economic slowdown.
The UK and EU have agreed to extend the Brexit deadline until October 31. The "flextension", which allows the UK to leave before the deadline if a deal is approved in Parliament, means that the UK w
Event risk passes with no surprises: The litany of economic data provided market participants the green-light they were looking for; but so far, the price-reaction, while bullish, has been subdued. Relative to the past 100-days, volume on Wall Street, and a majority of developed markets, has been thin overnight. It’s giving the impression of a stock-market bereft of conviction, as nervousness sets in as the S&P500 edges towards new record highs. Admittedly, much of this phenomenon could be a
South Africa’s Platinum Group Metal (PGM) is bracing for industry-wide tough salary negotiations as it urges the government to invest in platinum markets. Chris Griffith, Chief of Anglo American Platinum Ltd, the world No.1 miner, reassured investors that workers are likely to avoid prolonged strikes. Meanwhile, the rand basket price for platinum and its sister metals rose 20% to 25 % this year already. Slowing global growth could pressure the metal, which hit $891 at 6:00am GMT+1 on the IG Web
Waiting, waiting, waiting: Another uneventful night in global markets, traders have apparently occupied themselves positioning for the ramp-up in economic data in the next 24 hours. Equity indices pulled back in North America and Europe, as global safe-have bonds caught a bid. Commodities fell across the board, naturally with the exception of gold, which ticked higher on haven-demand. The G10 currency complex was lifeless, with the Japanese Yen edging higher as the carry trade was unwound on ant
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has posted a list of goods that the US is considering to impose tariffs on from the EU, which includes aircraft, motorbikes, cheese and wine. The tariffs on some $11bn products from the EU is in response to the subsidies the bloc gives to Boeing's rival Airbus, which has caused "adverse effects to the Unites States".
US equities had a mixed session on Monday coming of the back of a strong growth last week. Both the S&P and Nasdaq ed
An uneventful day on Wall Street: A flat, somewhat mixed, and low activity day on Wall Street, market participants seem to be eyeing events later on in the week. After Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll induced rally, traders have apparently looked-down below their feet, realized how far this market has climbed, and decided a fresh-wind is required before scaling to new record-heights. Such a milestone stands only 1-and-a-half per cent away for the S&P500; and sensibly, the market is in no rush to ge
Asian Pacific markets were mixed on afternoon trading, edging off seven-month peaks as investors digested a rebound in U.S. jobs data and reports of more progress in the trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, but still cautious on the outlook of the global economy and the U.S. earnings season.
The U.S economy added 196,000 jobs in March, beating economists' expectations of a figure of 175,000.
Chinese blue chip stocks climbed in the initial session, however slipped sl
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 8 April 2019. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral adjustment on your account. Specia
A “Goldilocks” end to the week: Sentiment was nicely boosted to end the week last week. US Non-Farm Payrolls printed as closely to a so-called "goldilocks" figure for risk assets as you're ever liked to see. The data revealed the US economy added 196,000 jobs last month, against an expected figure of 172,000. It was enough to keep the unemployment rate to its very low levels of 3.8 per cent. But the real kicker for market-bulls was the earnings component: wage growth missed estimates, revealing
Donald Tusk has proposed a 12-month "flexible" Brexit extension date which would allow the UK to leave once a deal has been approved with the 12 months. The proposal would first need to be approved at a summit next week.
US-China trade talks have reached "new consensus" following yesterdays talks between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Trump. Could the end of the trade war be in sight? Trump has suggested that that question may be answered "over the next four weeks".
Asian stocks
Positioning for the week’s climax: A little water-treading, as all eyes turn to Washington this weekend. And for two-reasons, really: highly anticipated trade-talks between the Trump Administration and Chinese officials – which includes Vice Premier Liu He; and the release of US Non-Farm Payrolls data by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both promise to be potentially market moving events. Fundamentally, both events come in one-and-two as the week’s most significant macro-economic stories. How
In a continued effort to increase the amount of trade ideas and strategy pieces in the web trading platform, I'm happy to announce both Live and Demo clients can now access Community threads from within the platform. This will specifically surface the very latest threads from the 'Strategy and Market Discussion' board based on the 'most recent new thread post' hierarchy.
This follows further efforts such as including Reuters news and video, IGTV live video, and analyst articles into the pl
Bitcoin’s chart is finally generating some interest in technical traders as prices are slightly down from Wednesday’s record highs. April last year saw a “short squeeze” that had the price of Bitcoin jump from $6,700 to $8,000 in a single move. Other cryptocurrencies are following the trend as investors look for the drivers in the volatility surge.
Gold prices edged higher after steadying on Wednesday. The yellow-metal keeps rotating around the mean as the effect of the rally in global st
Growth fears ease; risk taking subdued: Risk appetite wasn't terribly high overnight. But in saying this, the persistent, vexatious concerns regarding the global growth outlook has continued to abate. Markets have become used to modifications in the growth outlook manifesting in a powering of risk-on behaviour. Given the economic backdrop, the reasons for this are pretty intuitive. Just as far as last night's trade, though, this relationship didn’t hold quite so strongly. There were clear signs
The price of Bitcoin jumped 23% on Tuesday, surpassing the $5,000 line and hitting its highest level in almost 5 months in just under an hour. This sudden surge caught investors off guard as Cryptocurrencies' volatile sessions, which were popular at the beginning of last year, have now become a rare occasion. The trigger of this rally is unknown, which is common with unregulated assets, but other digital currencies followed suit, as Ethereum surged 12% and Ripple gained 6.5%.
The US and
The biggest day of the (economic) year: The Australian economy garnered significant attention yesterday. Arguably, it was the biggest day on the economic calendar we’ll see this year. Insights into both the future of monetary and fiscal policy don’t often come on the same day. But yesterday it did: the RBA delivered their monthly decision on Australian interest rates; and the Federal Government handed down its latest budget. The price action in financial markets has thus far been limited – thoug
Lyft, the most recent high profile IPO, shares have seen huge trading activity over the first two days of trading as over 41.5 million shares were traded, well over the 32.5 million offered in the IPO. However, the ride-hailing company saw it's shares slump 12% on its second day of trading down to $69.01, below the official IPO price of $72. The downturn comes after the stock rallied to a high of $88.60 on Friday.
US equities surged on Monday due to strong manufacturing data as factory ac
The US Yield Curve Flipped Back to Normal, Is the Recession Off?
A lot of attention was paid this past week by the financial media to the inversion of the yield curve. To understand the signal, it is important to define the circumstances. The yield curve is a comparison of the yield – in this case, on US Treasuries – of different durations. Normally, the longer the duration, the higher the yield should be owing to the longer tie-up of exposure. When a curve inverts, we have an atypical circ
Today was a good day: The term risk-on can be a little overused in financial markets at times. When short-on-time, and confronted with something complex, suggesting it’s been a “risk-on” or “risk-day” is a simple way to say market participants feel pretty good. At the risk of oversimplifying: the first day of the new quarter was certainly a “risk-on” day. It’s likely given the context of yesterday’s trade that makes this so. Concerns about a global economic slowdown have been their most sensitiv
Confidence returns to the markets as Asian stocks rallied on Monday over positive Chinese factory gauges and signs of progress in US-China trade talks boosted investor sentiment. Manufacturing activity in China expanded at its fastest pace in eight months in March, reading 50.8 and beating analysts' expectations of 49.9.
Bloomberg has announced that Chinese government bonds will be included in its Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate index, a global benchmark of government securities. This
The start of something new: A new day, week, month and quarter today; and what a difference a little time can make. 3 months ago, at least for some, global financial markets stood at the brink of ruin. It was December 24 last year that the S&P500 hit its low, but it wasn’t until the start of January that something resembling a turnaround in US stocks transpired. Fast forward to now, and Wall Street is over 12 per cent higher, and though at stages has looked extremely vulnerable to turnaround
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 1 April 2019. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral a
