Markets Euro area PMIs for October were on tap and came in to the strong side of expectations. Economy-wide activity picked up to 52.2 from 51.2, a 17-month high, driven by the services sector (52.6 from 51.3) on a steeper increase in new orders and employment. Germany in particular printed a sharp increase in services…
Global markets ended the week with an uneasy calm, masking what appears to be growing stress beneath the surface. Wall Street showed resilience — the major indexes finished higher after mid-week volatility sparked by renewed concerns over regional bank stability. Yet in Europe, sentiment was more fragile, as bank-led declines weighed on both the FTSE…
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said overnight that the balance of risks in the U.S. economy has shifted, with greater danger of a labor market slowdown than of a sharp rebound in inflation. Neveretheless, he added that while policymakers may be leaning toward the view that the economy is weakening, “we’re more likely betting that…
Markets Market relevant data are rather scarce these days. UK labour market data in this respect at least provided some kind of ‘distraction’. Even so, the market reaction told least as much on reigning market sentiment as on a reassessment on the basis of the data content. The UK labour market report can be labelled…
It was a week dominated by politics — both domestic and international — as shifting power dynamics and fresh policy risks rippled through global markets. In Japan, optimism surged after Sanae Takaichi’s victory in the ruling LDP leadership race, clearing the way for her to become the country’s first female prime minister. Investors welcomed her…
EUR/USD continued its slide this morning as a combination of US Dollar strength and concerns around the French political drama rambled on. The most recent news indicates that President Macron has given the outgoing Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, until Wednesday evening to try and get the divided parliament to agree on a new prime minister….
A week with political paralysis in Washington ended with record highs on Wall Street — a telling sign of how investors are prioritizing Fed policy over fiscal drama. The U.S. government shutdown, now in effect after Congress failed to pass a funding bill, has frozen major data releases and paralyzed parts of the bureaucracy. Yet…
Markets US yields currently are changing between +1.5 bps (2-y) and 0.5 bps (30-y). Similar story for the German yield curve (2-y +0.5 bps; 30 y -1 bp). This looks like being the new normal, potentially for some time to come. Admittedly, the US services ISM still to be released after finishing this report, gives…
Despite the current crypto market consolidation, investors are looking to boost their crypto profits through altcoins. Last week, the crypto market was engulfed by a wave of bearish trends as the prices of top assets dropped. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, fell below the $110,000 threshold to a market price of $108,500 during the week. This…
No matter how strong the trend, corrections are inevitable. The EURUSD pullback was driven by the closing of speculative longs after the Fed cut the federal funds rate, the fall in US stock indices, and strong macroeconomic data. However, as soon as investors bought up the S&P 500 dip and Fed officials started talking about…