It is probably fair to say that central banks have become the most powerful actors in today’s financial markets. On the one hand this is due to governments’ reluctance to make use of fiscal policy measures in order to stimulate their economies in the aftermath of the Great Recession. On Read more…
[edmc id= 3486]Download here the Weekly Market Brief[/edmc] United States S&P 500 started the week off strong and closed 2.8% higher, at 1,917, on the back of an oil price rally. The rally was due to an agreement between major oil producers, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, to set crude output Read more…
“In the old days you built armies, now you build a sovereign-wealth fund” Jayne Bok In the month of January, there has been significantly more willingness by sellers to sell assets at any price. Volume has been extremely high and markets have been strongly linked to oil prices even though, Read more…
In the last article[1], we explained the three arrows (measures) of Abenomics stimulus. In this article instead we will take a look at the most recent data about the Japanese economy and then focus on the structural reforms. In particular, reforms that are supposed to tackle the labour market and Read more…
Fed hiking path explained
The recent turmoil enduring since the beginning of the year affected in particular energy and financial sectors. Italian banks were hit by a panic sell off that shrank, and in the worst cases halved, their capitalization even though fundamental factors are strong for most of them and no rationality can Read more…
[edmc id= 3343]Download here the Weekly Market Brief[/edmc] United States US economic data came in mixed, giving supple reason for the volatility seen in financial markets. The S&P 500 is trading near 2014 lows, due to intense dollar weakness on the back of the futures market pricing in almost 0% chance Read more…
2016 is highly likely to be the year when a generation of traders and analysts will play in an environment characterised by rising interest rates (especially, in the US) for the first time in their career. On the other side, however, expansive monetary policies will still be present in most Read more…
Quick Overview Argentina is one of the largest economies of South America, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than USD 540bn. It enjoys good relations with most of the countries in the region, particularly Brazil and Venezuela. The country also plays a leading role in regional policymaking as Read more…
Commodities rout is one of the key themes that have characterised 2015. Further to oil and gold (which we covered last week https://bsic.it/future-gold-full-hedge-role-risk/), several basic resources, like industrial metals, have been suffering for months, but they may be affected by slightly different factors than the former. Through this article, we Read more…
[edmc id= 3290]Download here the Weekly Market Brief[/edmc] United States A flurry of US data came out this week. Consumer sentiment came in at 91.3 in November, below an initial reading of 93.1. New home sales rose to 10.7%, taken as positive despite coming in below consensus. Consumer spending increased 0.1% Read more…
[edmc id= 3279]Download here the Weekly Market Brief[/edmc] United States Once again, the discussion around the expected Fed policy decisions in December has dominated the week in the US markets. The minutes of the Fed October meeting, released on Wednesday, hardened expectations of an interest rate hike. They also hinted at Read more…
Can volatility indices provide useful signals on the “underlying” market? We tried to figure it out analysing some relations between the VIX and other indices provided by the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The VIX index, which is derived from prices of a basket of out-of-the-money options on the S&P500, represents Read more…
Historically, correlation among different risky assets has increased during periods of financial crisis: losses in one market spread to others, thus creating “contagion”. The increased correlation phenomenon is confirmed by our previous analysis on the topic (https://bsic.it/new-old-high-correlation/). Furthermore, there is also the so-called “flight to quality”, meaning that investors move Read more…
The European banking sector has been facing significant changes in the post crisis era. Regulatory headwinds, a myriad of litigation charges and the lack of a credible strategy at many institutions have seen the sector fall out of favor with equity investors. Though, admittedly, these challenges might not have been Read more…