Risky asset classes such as equities have recorded price increases at the beginning of the year. The core question for the investor is: Is this recovery after the sharp decline in Q4 sustainable or not?
Article on tag "ECB"
Market view: Increased uncertainty
The performance of most asset classes in the year to date has been mixed, to put it euphemistically. Is there a common underlying factor? Can we expect to see a better second half of the year?
30 years of falling interest rates – what is ahead of us?
Let’s start with a trip down memory lane: Do you remember the scenery 30 years ago – on the financial markets, and in our personal lives? The 1980s – many of the older generation are still thinking back to the “good old times”. There were no smartphones and no data kraken. Instead, we had shoulder […]
Italy: slipping into a crisis in confidence
The heightened uncertainty over whether Italy will repay its debts and whether it will remain a member of the eurozone has led to a sell-off in securities. Our chief economist Gerhard Winzer gives an overview.
Financial Markets Monitor May: positive opportunities outnumber negative ones
Positive opportunities still outnumber the negative ones on the capital markets – that was the conclusion of our Investment Committee. Our willingness to take risks is still optimistic and also moderately higher than in April.
European banks: Outlook for 2018
European banks (as measured by the Stoxx 600 Banks Index) had a decent year in 2017: the index climbed more than 8%, slightly outperforming the broader European market (Stoxx 600 Index). The strongest positive impulse came from the French elections in April last year, where the populist threat was successfully defeated by Emmanuel Macron, arguably the most market-friendly candidate among the contenders. A robust European economy and a solid business sentiment throughout the year also helped banking shares go higher.
An impressive stunt
The Council of the European Central Bank pulled an impressive stunt at the monetary policy meeting on 26 October. ECB President Mario Draghi announced to reduce the extremely supportive monetary policy in the near future while …
ECB takes another tiny step
Economic growth in the Eurozone has embarked on a clear upward trend. At the same time, the fear of falling wages and prices has disappeared for now. The worries over a possible break-up of the European Union have also eased. Against this backdrop, the ECB President Draghi issued a slightly more optimistic growth forecast yet again on 27 April at the press conference of the European Central Bank. This is another tiny step indicating a possible reduction of the monetary support in the medium term.
Higher growth vs. increased political uncertainty
The first weeks of the new year have already picked up from where the trends that started in 2016 and the hypotheses for 2017 left off: higher growth, normalisation of inflation, increased uncertainty with regard to the effects of Trumponomics, and a gradual end of the loose monetary policy.
Emerging markets bonds in demand
Economic growth in the emerging markets has picked up substantially, while that in the industrialised economies has been rather stable. This has led to an increase in the growth differential in the emerging markets’ favour. Investor demand for emerging markets bonds has been on the rise in search of higher yields and interest rates.