22nd March 2021
We were already on tenterhooks ahead of policy meetings at the major central banks, but heightened geopolitical tensions; new coronavirus lockdowns in Europe; and a weaker oil price, all made for an exhausting end to the week.
15th March 2021
Given the US President, Joe Biden, yesterday (Thursday 11 March 2021) signed his $1.9tr fiscal stimulus bill into law, meaning that qualifying Americans (those earning less than $75,000 individually or married couples earning less than $150,000) will each start to receive their $1,400 cash payment in the coming days, coupled with this pledge to have all Americans vaccinated by May, inflation and interest rates were again the hot topic of the week.
1st March 2021
As you can see from the accompanying table, it wasn’t a particularly pretty week for global equity markets as the ‘topic du jour’ was whether inflation is about to go into hyper drive, following some strong US economic data and comments from a BoE policymaker.
22nd February 2021
As you can see from the accompanying table, over the week equity markets were little changed. However, of more interest is the fact that it was this time last year that equity markets began to fall as coronavirus, which until then was seen as being contained in Wuhan, started to spread outside of China.
15th February 2021
Thankfully the brouhaha about an imminent return of inflation – and with it, tighter monetary policy via higher interest rates – didn’t last very long!