On the 9th March 1987 U2 released the Joshua Tree, the fastest selling British Album of all time that went on to sell over 25 million copies. Joshua Tree is still acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time. Interestingly Bono considered pulling the album prior to its... Show More
In this second of a three-part series from guest contributor, ex ANZ Chief Economist, Warren Hogan, this note assesses the outlook for US bond yields and explains why the US 10 year Treasury yield could be heading for 3.50%. Show More
As expected (by me and pretty much everyone else) the Fed held interest rates unchanged and announced that it would commence its balance sheet normalization plan in October. The balance sheet normalization plan involves gradually ceasing reinvestment of principal from maturing bonds, and will result in a passive/automatic run-down... Show More
The latest FOMC meeting included the release of plans for balance sheet normalisation or a transition from QE to QT . Show More
As the Fed meets to make its June monetary policy decisions, the consensus (and my view) is that they will hike interest rates again. This will add to the interest rate differential support for the US dollar and driver further policy divergence. This comes at a time where the US... Show More
We are used to the experience of economic developments influencing and sometimes determining political events. This past year we have seen political events influencing markets and economic forecasts more than usual. The rise of the populists as a reaction to the specific disaffection with wage stagnation, immigration and terrorism is... Show More
The New Zealand dollar seems to be defying gravity of late, as the interest rate differential between the RBNZ's OCR and the Fed funds rate continues to move lower. While the interest rate differential sometimes works with a lead and sometimes with a lag in setting direction for the Kiwi... Show More
Market moved up again on global positive sentiment ahead of the US Fed update to be only 40 points off the 2016 high…but on accumulation (i.e. dividends included) basis we are at all-time highs (i.e. created a new high today). The positive performers today were led by Discretionary retail and... Show More
Good morning everybody, on what is likely to be a tough day for local stocks with the futures pointing to at least a 1.5% fall in early trading. Today, we have changed our usual question style report due to the large nature of emails received over the weekend on the... Show More
Volatility returned to global markets late last week after the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi left interest rates unchanged and downplayed the need to commit additional stimulus. The news surprised markets that had been expecting an extension of the ECB's asset purchase program. Mr. Draghi's only new announcement after... Show More
