In economic terms, China is one of the best placed of any major economy to recover from the pandemic. The first country to suffer heavily from Covid was also the earliest to emerge from lockdown, with life now well on its way back to normal in the world’s second largest economy. Wuhan, a city of…
Central bankers have played a vital role throughout the COVID crisis. With the global economy in the grip of its deepest-ever recession, the world’s central banks have had to inject huge amounts of liquidity into the financial system and government coffers to stop the health crisis turning into a financial catastrophe. The US Federal Reserve…
September has ended what now feels like a ‘goldilocks’ summer for investors, and political, societal and capital market frictions have returned to the stage with a bang. However, the fact that stock markets have not simply plunged on bad news, but have instead remained surprisingly stable, is a good indication that economic and market dynamics…
Despite the sharp sell-off we saw into the end of this week, capital markets overall have cruised through the summer. The US stock market soared past its pre-pandemic highs, powered by America’s mega-cap tech giants, while others (with the exception of Japan) saw more muted price action. With traders and the investing public away in…
We are in a new era for central bankers. Last week, US and global monetary policymakers convened for their annual Jackson Hole conference, headlined by a speech from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell. But Powell’s keynote address was noticeably different from previous years – and not just because neither speaker nor audience were…
Markets’ summer holidays are over. Throughout August, risk assets made some impressive gains, while the global economy remained in its deepest ever recession. After equities were then catapulted to eye-watering valuation levels, the end of this week saw a sharp reversal. On Thursday, the US’ S&P 500 – which soared past its pre-pandemic highs in…
As we have written many times, the deepest global recession in the post-war period is no ordinary one. With activity suppressed by government diktat, it is hard to gauge how much of the plummet in demand is ‘real’ and how much is just a – hopefully short-term – virus response. To judge where the forced…
Next Monday (31 August), Apple will split its shares four to one, meaning holders of Apple stock will have four shares trading at a price of $125 instead of one share at the current price of $500. This is Apple’s fifth stock split, aimed at making the stock more accessible to new investors (it is…
In a week where Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in earnest, global investors showed it is indeed “America first”. US equities continue to push at all-time highs, having recovered everything lost in March’s frantic sell-off – and then some. If the stock market soaring to new heights while the world languishes in its…
Like most industries, the automotive sector has been hit hard by the pandemic. Carmakers were already struggling well before the first COVID case came in, with changes to emissions regulations, a global manufacturing downturn and structural shifts in demand providing fierce headwinds. A global economic shutdown then came at the worst time it could, as…