Thierry Hasse: Jobs report may shape Fed’s interest rate decision

The trading week prior to the long Labor Day weekend was uneventful, as is often the case in the last days of the traditional summer vacation season. In fixed income markets, yields were little changed. The focus has turned squarely to the next Federal Reserve open markets committee meeting, scheduled for September 17-18, where the…

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Thierry Hasse: Fed likely to cut interest rates; the only question is by how much

It’s hard to write an exciting recap of the previous week in the financial markets when almost virtually nothing significant happened until Friday morning. Financial market participants were squarely focused on the speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming, where central bankers from all over the world congregate…

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Thierry Hasse: Is the U.S. economy bound for the perfect soft landing?

Once again, “dip buyers” in U.S. equity markets were vindicated last week. The S&P 500 Index, a measure of broad market performance, had its best week of the year, continuing an impressive market comeback from the sharp sell-off experienced at the beginning of August. Two key U.S. inflation reports, the Producer Price Index (PPI) and…

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Thierry Hasse: We’re watching topsy-turvy markets for key signals

In the span of just over two weeks the narrative in the global financial markets changed abruptly. It went from ebullience in equity markets to the fear of an imminent recession. The “great rotation” that started in mid-July promised to finally include “value” and small cap equities in the bull market. Instead it turned into…

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Thierry Hasse: Cracks in the economy may prompt Fed to act

Presidential politics took center stage in last week’s news cycle, stirring the stock market into a game of forecasting the financial implications of a political shuffle. This chess match of predictions, we anticipate, could introduce a fresh wave of unpredictability for the markets. Meanwhile, the “great rotation” continued last week with investors resuming the selling…

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Thierry Hasse: Financial markets could see a volatile week

The political implications of the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump dominated U.S. financial markets last week. The market priced in an Election Day victory for the Republican Party. Several market sectors, including financial services, industrials and energy, were projected to be the beneficiaries of a second Trump administration’s “America first” trade…

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Thierry Hasse: Markets see Goldilocks and AI as a winning combination

We are watching stock markets closely today as they react to the tragic events in Pennsylvania over the weekend. At this early juncture, it’s unclear how markets will react over the longer term and it’s still a long way to Election Day in November. We will, of course, continue to stay on top of how…

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Our midyear 2024 investment outlook

When we look at the investment environment at the midpoint of 2024, we see two main trends. First, markets have now priced in the impact of fewer than expected Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Second, equity valuations are expensive overall but could be justified by the underlying solid strength of the U.S. economy. Looking in…

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Thierry Hasse: U.S. jobs report sends mixed signals again

During the holiday-shortened trading week all eyes were on July 5 job report and its implications for monetary policy. For the second month in a row, the U.S. employment report sent mixed signals about the economy. On the one hand, the 206,000 headline number for the increase in non-farm payroll during June was slightly higher…

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