Market Updates.

The end of our summer unfortunately coincided with a sharp fall in global equity markets.

Global equity markets have got off to a reasonable start this week, helped by news that AstraZeneca had resumed UK clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine

There has been a universal picture of doom and gloom across the media so far this week, thanks to UK/EU political posturing over Brexit; concerns over the end of the government’s Job Retention (furlough) Scheme; the resurgence in coronavirus cases (and associated localised restrictions); and continued weakness in US equity markets.

Markets were relatively tepid yesterday, closing the day largely mixed. We saw the first ‘virtual’ Jackson Hole symposium open yesterday, an annual event hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank that focuses on discussing key economic events.

Yesterday (Wednesday 26 August) was quiet in terms of meaningful data releases, seeing broader European and US markets close higher.

Global equity markets struggled for direction yesterday (25 August 2020) after mixed US economic data, suggesting that there is the potential for a two-track recovery, between higher-paid Americans with secure jobs versus those that the coronavirus has disproportionately hit

We thought we would be having a quiet start to the week as there was little in the way of economic data yesterday (24 August 2020), as most of the data readings are being released later on in the week.

On the surface, yesterday’s US jobless data was disappointing as initial claims unexpectedly increased back above 1m, with a reading of 1.1m for the week ending Saturday 15 August 2020, while the previous week’s reading was revised higher to 971,000.

We were completely vexed with the minutes from the Fed’s last monetary policy meeting, given policymakers thought the US economic rebound would be slower than they previously thought, yet policymakers didn’t give any indication that more stimulus would be provided.

The US economic surprises continued coming yesterday (Tuesday 18 August 2020) with readings for both housing starts and building permits coming in significantly higher than economist expectations.