“substantial monetary policy stimulus remains essential to ensure the continued build-up of domestic price pressures over the medium term.” So says Sig Draghi in yesterday’s release of the ECB’s 2018 annual report and so much for any doubt that the ending of the asset purchase programme (AAP) in December would actually herald a return to […]
Continue reading
Markets are going with the ‘flow’, because that’s the only way to trade these algo-driven markets. The new Fed chairman flip-flops from hawk to dove while the ECB hint at following suit (ahead of its May parliamentary elections) and the Chinese unleash another Tsumani of credit. Equity valuations meanwhile recoup the Q4 lost ground, notwithstanding […]
Continue reading
So much for IATA’s prediction last year of “Normal profits are becoming normal for airlines”, or the thesis that airlines would again be able to pass on higher fuel prices to customers by charging higher fares. Someone must have forgotten to tell Ryanair, as they cut a further 10 percentage points from their current year earnings […]
Continue reading
BTFD or STFR depends on what game you think is really being played out there in markets. The recent bounce in equity prices on the apparent reversal in the Fed’s QT narrative together with an improving narrative on Chinese tariffs and now hopes for a reversal in Brexit, notwithstanding the resounding defeat of Theresa May’s […]
Continue reading
Is there something else, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai would like to share with us? While in the news recently defending the integrity of Google’s services before the House Judiciary Committee, perhaps less well known has been his recent director stock sales, which this quarter alone (up to 6th Dec) have already amounted to -50k Alphabet shares, to […]
Continue reading
The impending demise of Theresa May’s government will be a sad loss to many of us who have been relying on our daily fix of gallows humour to keep us entertained. While many have been, and in some cases still are, deluding themselves that the EU is our friend and will negotiate a fair deal’ […]
Continue reading
“We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America,” Mr Macron told radio station Europe 1. And the occasional stroppy 12 year old student as well it seems!
Continue reading
The recent gyrations in the Thomas Cook share price (a +50% surge yesterday and -13% correction today), might have you reaching for your catastrophe models, but its volatility after its latest guidance cut ought not to be that surprising. Combine a volatile top line with low margins, substantial financial leverage and a low rate of […]
Continue reading