Market Wrap for the Week Ending 6 June 2025

European Central Bank Rate Decision The European Central Bank delivered its third rate cut of 2025, reducing rates by 25 basis points to 2%. The ECB hinted at a pause in its year-long easing cycle after inflation finally returned to its 2% target. ECB President Lagarde signalled a cautious stance going forward, with the bank …

Market Wrap for Week Ending 30 May 2025

Weekly Investor Missive: S&P 500 Performance: Q1 Highlights Despite Trump’s Tariff Turmoil (TTT), S&P 500 companies showed strength in Q1 2025. FactSet reported revenue growth of 4.7% y/y, slightly below the 10-year average of 5.1%, with 10 of 11 sectors growing, led by Tech, Utilities, and Health Care. Only 62% of firms beat revenue estimates, …

Market Wrap for Week Ending 16 May 2025

US-China trade war truce The US and China agreed to a 90-day pause on high tariffs, reducing the US tariff on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% and China’s tariff on US goods from 125% to 10%. This deal, reached after talks in Geneva, aims to ease trade tensions but leaves uncertainty for businesses planning …

Market Wrap for Week Ending 9 May 2025

U.S.-China Trade Talks Spark Market Optimism Global markets rebounded as U.S.-China trade negotiations in Geneva showed signs of progress. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reported “substantial progress,” and both sides agreed to establish a consultative mechanism for continued economic negotiations. While no formal deal was reached, the talks signalled a potential de-escalation amid concerns about …

Market Sentiment Is Really Bad

The latest Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey, conducted from April 4-10, 2025, covering 195 institutional fund managers with $444 billion in assets under management, reveals a highly bearish outlook, marking it as the fifth most bearish survey in the past 25 years.  Macro Outlook Economic Pessimism: 82% of fund managers expect a weaker …

Thoughts on “Liberation Day”

Global markets have spoken on Trump’s universal tariffs on everyone. 54% on China, 46% on Vietnam, 20% on EU, and 10% minimum on all others. By Friday, S&P 500 plunged 10.5% over two days, while Monday futures indicate another 2.5% decline as of writing. Asian markets are also falling, HSI is down 11.3%, TOPIX is …

Market Wrap For The Week Ending 28 March 2025

US Economic data is poor. Consumer confidence fell again, lowest level in 2 years based on the Michigan consumer sentiment index. PCE came in higher than expected. Fostering the case for sticky inflation. More tariff uncertainties, with a new 25% tariffs on all auto imports. Stock markets fell hard on Friday, Wall Street banks are …

Market Wrap For The Week Ending 21 March 2025

US Economy US housing starts rebounded, up 11.2% in February. Industrial production gained 0.7% on month while retail sales rose 3.1%. Sentiment among homebuilders remain weak, with the NAHB housing market index slipping to 39. The biggest event was probably the FOMC meeting, where rates were left unchanged but FOMC participants raised inflation targets and …