Weekly Market Commentary

In summary

  • A mixed performance across global equity markets last week
  • China’s latest stimulus announcement falls short on details 
  • European Central Bank meets, as markets expect another interest rate cut
  • Latest calendar Q3 results reporting season gets into its stride
A mixed performance across global equity markets last week

Last week saw mixed performance across equity markets globally. All in local currency price return terms, in the US the S&P500 equity index ended up +1.11% on the week, its fifth weekly consecutive gain, and closing at a new record high on Friday, its 45th such record this year; more encouragingly, in a sign of the continued broadening of equity market performance outside of past US megacap technology leadership, the US KBW Bank equity index was up +3.98% on the week, with JPMorgan up +4.44% on the day on Friday after announcing strong results. Europe also saw gains, with the pan-European STOXX600 equity index rising +0.66% on the week. Meanwhile in China, the country’s CSI300 equity index fell on Friday to cap a weekly loss of -3.3%, its biggest weekly drop since July and driven by disappointment at the lack of detail around China’s recent stimulus promises.

China’s latest stimulus announcement falls short on details 

China’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) held its much anticipated briefing this past Saturday. Included in the briefing, local governments will be allowed to issue special bonds in order to buy up unsold homes and turn them into subsidised housing. But while more support was promised for the property sector, in turn implying more government borrowing, the briefing itself did not give a headline figure for fresh fiscal stimulus that markets have arguably been looking for, since Beijing policy makers first announced stimulus promises some three weeks ago now.

European Central Bank meets, as markets expect another interest rate cut

The European Central Bank (ECB) is due to meet on Thursday, and expectations are that it may cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps). If the ECB does cut later this week, it would be its third-such-sized-cut since it started cutting rates back in June. No doubt feeding into the ECB’s thinking this week, is the relatively weak economic growth outlook for the region this year – the German government last week revised down the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for the current calendar year 2024 to a contraction of -0.2%, and down from a previous positive +0.3% estimate back in April.

Latest calendar Q3 results reporting season gets into its stride

This week sees a lot more companies coming out with their latest calendar Q3 results. In terms of what to look out for, highlights include two key semiconductor firms, Dutch-listed ASML on Wednesday, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday. Otherwise, US bank results will continue to drop after last week’s strong JP Morgan results, with Bank of America, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs all due tomorrow, while we have big healthcare companies reporting including UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson both tomorrow, and Abbott on Wednesday. Finally, look out for results from media-streaming company Netflix and asset manager Blackstone on Thursday and consumer goods company (and maker of Head & Shoulders shampoo) Procter & Gamble on Friday.

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References

Source: https://www.brooksmacdonald.com/individuals/resources/insights/weekly-market-commentary
 

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