Category Archives: Market Insights

Wall Street was hindered by the banking sector and slumped after investors digested the comment from Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary on Wednesday’s hearing. However, Yellen attempted to alleviate market concerns during a subsequent hearing on Thursday, promising that policymakers would take further action to safeguard bank deposits if necessary. Meanwhile, Japan’s inflation data indicatesContinue Reading

Investors hoping for a pause in rate hikes were disappointed as the U.S. Federal Reserve pushed ahead with a quarter-point hike at its interest rate decision on Wednesday. While way lower than 2022’s mega-hikes of 50 to 75 bps and in line with economist expectations, March’s 25-point hike is a calculated risk amid what isContinue Reading

Jerome Powell delivered a smaller size of rate hike of 25 bps which is in line with the market consensus; however, the market was hit by double assail with U.S. major indexes dropping by more than 1% and the dollar traded below $103. Firstly, Powell revealed that the Fed considered pausing the rate hike butContinue Reading

Wall Street closed high and gold prices retraced as the fears over the banking sector crisis abated; the dollar index remains calm before the Fed’s interest rate decision announcement, which will be made later today (22nd March). However, investors are starting to discuss the banking turmoil as aftermath of central banks’ frenetic rate hikes aContinue Reading

The latest and largest fall in the recent banking turmoil is embattled Swiss lender Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse Group AG bondholders suffered a historic loss of about CHF 16bn ($17.3bn) worth of risky notes when a takeover by UBS Group AG triggered a “complete write-down” of the bank’s additional tier 1 (AT1) bonds in orderContinue Reading

In a continued chain of unrelentingly robust jobs data, the U.S. ADP Nonfarm printed a reading of 242,000  for February, higher than an estimated 205 000 and up from a revised 119,000 for January. The service sector had the largest contribution to  job additions with 190,000, of which a majority came from the leisure andContinue Reading

On Wednesday, China released its Manufacturing PMI and Caixin Manufacturing PMI for February, beating economists’ expectations of 50.5 and 50.2 respectively. A reading above 50 indicates expansion from the previous month. This is the highest reading since April 2012, marking a faster-than-expected rebound for the world’s second-largest economy after covid-19 related shutdowns slowed growth toContinue Reading

An increasingly risk-off market has been proved right as the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has released the minutes of its 31 Jan – 1 Feb meeting, signalling the Fed’s resolve to continue the fight against inflation. This includes further hikes, although almost all members of the FOMC supported a slowing down in theContinue Reading

President Xi Jinping’s effort to stimulate China’s economy through increased consumer spending is facing a new challenge as citizens misuse cheap consumer loans. Borrowers are using low-interest loans to prepay mortgages or invest in stocks, instead of buying goods as intended. This practice, which is prohibited by regulators, threatens to undermine Beijing’s plan to fosterContinue Reading

On Tuesday, February 14, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures were released, showing an increase of 0.5% in January and the highest in three months but in-line with expectations. The year-on-year increase, meanwhile, is 6.4%, up slightly from market forecasts of 6.2%. Meanwhile, the core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices,  increasedContinue Reading