Monday Digest

Overview: earnings expectations may yet stabilise wobbling markets The market wobbles of last week brought with them an eerie sense of déjà vu. This time last year, the NASDAQ 100 closed at an all-time high of 9718.73, before sliding back as the far-reaching implications of the...

Overview: reflation is the word of the week (possibly year) Twelve months ago, stock markets hit their pre-pandemic high, before plunging towards the most extreme global market crash ever known, as the world accepted COVID-19 presented a threat of unprecedented dimensions. Learnings from the global...

Outlook: the EU displays frayed nerves and flared tempers In the middle stages of the pandemic, when things had the potential for going very, very badly, there was a sense of global solidarity and unity among people and politicians. In Europe, although...

Outlook: endpoints and new beginnings After last year’s annus horribilis, many people were hoping for a more prosaic start to the new year. But it soon became clear that 2021 had other ideas. Yet even though events of massive importance have taken...

Overview: more tunnel to go through before we get out into the lightThe November rally in stock markets finally petered out last week, despite further positive vaccine news that bolstered optimism for next year. Now that the Pfizer & BioNTech messenger vaccine...

Overview: debt markets buoyed by the promise of QE After September’s unsteadiness, capital markets have regained their composure and continue to drift upwards in October. This poise stands in stark contrast to the flow of bad news. In the US, the White...

Overview: October begins with the most unsurprising of surprisesOctober announced itself in truly dramatic fashion. In the US, COVID reality appears to have finally caught up with the reality-show president, although – somewhat characteristically – confusion and misdirection over the seriousness of...

September chill continues to bite for equity investors After another wobble last week, the S&P500 is down around 8% in US Dollar terms for the month. An element of Autumnal profit-taking following impressive gains over the summer months was to be expected....

Home-grown pessimism needs to be put into perspective for investorsHaving spent most of 2020 hoping things can get back to normal, Britain’s political news over the last couple of weeks has left us thinking ‘be careful what you wish for’. Stalling Brexit...

Welcome to this week’s Digest, where we consider some of the crucial questions driving investment markets. To read about all of the issues raised here in more depth, take a look at The Tatton Weekly, and if you would like to discuss any of the topics below...