[edmc id=1492][/edmc] US Positive data for the US economy has come out this week. Manufacturing PMI of February (53.2) showed a significant improvement with respect to January (51.3) and beat expectations of 52.0. The most interesting indicators, however, concern labour force. On February 175k new jobs were created in the Read more…
[edmc id=1406][/edmc] US The economy grew at a slower pace than it was first estimated. Indeed, the fourth quarter GDP growth estimate was revised down to 2.4%, in contrast with the initial estimation of 3.2%. This revision was attributed to lower consumer spending growth. As this data adds to a Read more…
The Emerging Markets boom has been driven mostly by easy money and commodity exports. As the Federal Reserve continues to retreat its massive bond-buying programme, and China shows signs of a slowdown, Emerging Markets are taking a hit. We’ve seen their currencies depreciate dramatically and their stock markets plunge. The Read more…
[edmc id=1325][/edmc] BSIC MARKET RECAP 22/02/2014 U.S. Stocks in the U.S. edged lower on Friday after quite a good week data wise: producer and consumer price index coming in as forecasted but better than expected on a monthly basis, markit’s manufacturing PMI scoring the highest variation in nearly four years. Read more…
Since the last time we wrote, many things have happened on the markets. The Fed has finally turned on its tapering programme in mid-December and said it would unwind its asset purchasing by another 10 billion in February. This long expected event has provoked what news broadcasters all over the Read more…
[edmc id=998][/edmc] BSIC MARKETS DIVISION MACRO VIEW US This week’s US data releases showed improvement in the economic sentiment: GDP and labour market confirmed our view on US Economy. The second estimate of third-quarter GDP was revised from 2.8% to 3.6%. However, we must point out that positive GDP growth Read more…
US This week has been really quiet for the US. Two main issues arise: the initial jobless claims surprise on the downside (actual 316K vs expected 330K), and the decline in the durable goods orders. (-2%) in October. With regard to the first data, although it is clearly good for Read more…
There seems to be a consensus in the market that the Fed will gradually start tapering in the next few months (our guesses at BSIC is in December). Therefore it is time to understand what could happen to markets and get prepared. What could happen on the equity market in Read more…
Panel 22|11|2013 US This week Bernanke surprised the markets outlining the chance of early tapering of QE (December meeting). For us this is quite surprising, as we still believe the US economy is not performing as well as it was believed this spring. Three main reasons have worsened our outlook Read more…
Two main issues dominated the week, the Yellen speech in front of the senate and the BoE inflation report. Ms. Yellen’s tone was strongly dovish and we understand why. The US economy is not ready for a December tapering. Inflation is declining from 2% in July to 1.2% now and Read more…
The European debt crisis seems to have taken the way of recovery and the rates for European government bonds reflect a positive economic outlook in the Euro area. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index includes Europe’s leading Blue-chips companies. Actually, these companies are considered as safe as AAA European countries (Germany, Read more…
The first point is that the Greek equity index level is very stretched: RSI is now over 70 and price levels already reached the upper Bollinger band. Although this would already be enough to short the index, a closer look at historical data corroborates this feeling. The true driver seems Read more…
Since the crisis hit, interest rates have been kept artificially to the lowest level the world has ever seen. This launched what was called the ‘hunt for yield’. As many investors ran for high-yield junk bonds, risk-averse investors who were uncomfortable with that level of risk turned to quality stocks, Read more…
When first appointed in 2006 by President Bush, Ben Bernanke probably didn’t expect his two terms as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to be the most decisive ones of the past century. First denying an housing bubble, he had to face its real burst and the most threatening crisis Read more…
On May 3, 2013, more than thirteen years since its first close above 1500, the S&P 500 closed above 1600 for the first time, at 1,614.42. Last week it closed at 1,667,47, some say by the end of the summer it may reach 1700 points. There has been a lot Read more…