Tag Archives: Chart of the Week

Dovish-light Fed seeks comfort in numbers

Yesterday’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting provided few surprises, very gently guiding the market towards a possible September rate hike barring any major surprises in the economic data and outlook. This was broadly in line with expectations and my forecast that the FOMC would deliver a dose of boring to a market that had been on tenterhooks (Fed says it best when it says nothing at all, 17 June 2015). Read more

UK Labour data not helping Conservatives

UK employment and wage data for February released today paint a picture of a benign economy and support the IMF’s positive assessment of the UK economy and policy mix. But these numbers are seemingly doing little to generate support for the ruling Conservative Party only three weeks before the 7th May general elections and this has got analysts and the media scratching their heads. The latest opinion polls indeed still have the Conservatives and opposition Labour Party roughly neck-and-neck on 34%. Read more

ECB wins first battle but long war ahead

It could only be a chart on the ECB’s announced QE program and hopefully the table below clarifies who will be buying what kinds of assets and in what size.

The initial market reaction – a fall in eurozone yields and euro and a jump in equities – suggests that the announcement has surpassed expectations – expectations which had admittedly been massaged over recent weeks. Read more