Getting out of the whirlpool……. Are we seeing an increasingly less than subtle shift, and even a little coordination between government and institutions, moving away from the austerity at all costs mantra, and towards a recognition that perhaps a little growth here and there might be helpful in flicking the UK out of the economic [...]
Eye of the Storm?
US QE3 – intoxicating mix Despite a calm week, I’m afraid we can’t ignore Europe completely, as the September event calendar has rumbled on, but for a change, we’ll start over the ‘pond’ in the US for a change, given that the September FOMC (Federal Open Markets Committee) meeting was included in the schedule of [...]
ECB bond buying……..curb your enthusiasm!
In my last ‘piece’ (Waiting for Events), I highlighted a series of events to be watched as September proceeds, which could kick the markets out of their summer stupor. Central Bank intervention……. The first of these was the ECB meeting which took place late last week, and the subsequent announcement, eagerly anticipated, by ECB boss, [...]
Waiting for Events……..
Having mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we expect little to happen until the politicians and mandarins return from their holidays, from a market perspective, the last couple of weeks has been very much more of the same, that is to say markets and indices treading water in relatively narrow trading ranges…..whichever asset class [...]
Beware of the Silly Season………normal service to resume soon?
I return from a sodden and windswept week in Cornwall to find that little has changed from a market perspective. To some extent, this was to my surprise and even disappointment, since we have become so used to rapid swings in sentiment and constant (bad) news flow that a week or two where nothing happens [...]
Leaning on the jargon………Risk On – Risk Off
On occasion in the last few months, we have referred to “risk on-risk off” market environments and the need to “face both ways” – which conjures up images of old Mr. Miyagi doing his ‘wax on/wax off’ training in the 80′s classic The Karate Kid. Correlation kills…… But we’re not the only ones leaning on [...]