Monetary policy

On Wednesday, US stocks fell dramatically, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 800 points. The rout was led by technology stocks, with the NASDAQ Composite Index down 316 points, but all sectors experienced losses. This was the worst one-day sell-off for US stocks since February. For much of the day, bonds sold off as well but, by the end of the day, a flight to safety occurred in US Treasuries, sending yields lower.

US economic growth should hold up even as quantitative tightening continues to take its toll in emerging markets, Europe grapples with ongoing structural issues and the UK is hamstrung by Brexit, according to Talib Sheikh, manager of the Jupiter Flexible Income Fund. “In these tricky conditions, flexibility and having options are key to managing risk, he added.

President Mario Draghi took a bold stance at the ECB press conference on Thursday. Not only did Draghi announce the timeframe for ending the asset purchase programme in 2018 but he also provided forward guidance on the unlikelihood of an interest rate hike until the summer of next year, subject to incoming data.

Following a sharp spike in risk premia in late May on uncertainties about new elections in Italy, markets mildly recovered from their state of emergency.

The first estimates of May’s figures show very clearly that overall inflation has accelerated after several months of stability, proof that the ECB’s accommodating policy is being efficient. The analysis of Thomas Page-Lecuyer, Senior investment specialist at CPR AM.