Global Markets Weekly
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Charles-Henry Monchau Chief Investment officer

The major equity benchmarks ended the week mixed as investors weighed strong economic and earnings against inflation fears and a rise in covid cases in Europe and the US. The Nasdaq index hit another record intraday high on Friday.

Oil tumbled after China and the U.S. discussed releasing strategic reserves and U.S. inventories rose for the 1st time in five weeks. The bond market seemed to be pricing in a slightly higher probability than before of having “uber-dovish” Lael Brainard as new Fed Chairman.
In Europe, equities were little changed as a surge in the number of coronavirus infections clouded the economic outlook. Core eurozone bond yields and the euro fell on dovish comments from ECB President Lagarde. Japan’s stock market returns were muted over a week that saw the government announcing a larger-than-expected stimulus package. Turkey may be entering a currency crisis as the Lira dropped past 10.5 per dollar for the first time ever.


Cryptocurrencies dropped with Bitcoin and Ether both correcting by 9% over the week. Precious metals (gold, silver) had a strong week.