There is definitely still a sense that there are lots of people away from their desks and taking advantage of the shortened week here in Europe. The plus side is it is already Wednesday, it is lighter in the evening, and it’s nearly the weekend but those looking for some direction today were left wondering as the Stoxx 600 ended the day +33bps, recovering a little of yesterday’s loss but without much fanfare. Lots of Fed Speakers this week and maybe the market is waiting to hear more from them…

Unexpected sunshine on Saturday really was the icing on the cake for the Easter weekend… So often in this country it is the other way around! Arguably Q1’s equity performance was a slightly unexpected surprise to the upside and we begin Q2 wondering where things may go. More questions than answers at this stage but that is always the case at the start of something. We all know past performance is no indicator of future performance but those looking for signs of what a +>10% rise for the S&P 500…

Well there we have it Q1 is over and done with and it’s been a very good quarter for Equities. We haven’t had any rate cuts, Oil is back climbing, yields are fairly solid and yet Equities across Europe and the U.S. are at or near all-time highs. Impressive. Italy leads the way thanks to the banks, followed by the Euro Stoxx 50 and the DAX whilst the UK…well we’re lagging behind but still +3% on the year. Easter then a chance to relax, spend some time with Family and importantly regroup before Q…

I’ve been reading quite a bit over the last few days about the gruelling, non-guided, 100mile, 60,000 ft elevation Barkley ultramarathon in the U.S. which is started in the unorthodox way by the race director lightening a cigarette. Not to mention the fact that you have just 60 hours to complete this but a British female by the name of Jasmin Paris just became the first female to complete the test (and only the 20th person ever!) What a legend. Simply incredible and it made me tired just readin…

We’ve always said we enjoy replies to the Daily Snapshot and if that happens to be a photo of the ski slopes today then that is just fine by us – it looked like a great day out there! A couple more runs for Equity markets to get through before Après this weekend but today started with a little blue run down to the top as the start of this holiday interrupted fortnight started without much fanfare. The month and quarter end is in danger of slipping by without anyone really noticing but we’d sti…

Whilst recovering from my knee operation I have certainly watched my fair share of TV. Kin on the iPlayer was very good, I’m desperate for the next series of Yellowstone to be released (if it ever is!) and I just finished the fourth series of Fauda last night which was just superb and a completely gripping. It’s probably a bit of a stretch to say that Equity markets are ever gripping but as they climb to yet new highs they’re certainly not lacking interest and the Stoxx 600 closed up 94bps. Exp…

Whilst all eyes are on the Fed and the dot plots tonight I’ll be keeping one eye on the football. Who doesn’t love an underdog story? San Marino have won just one of their 206 international football matches with the one win coming in 2004 vs Lichtenstein but one of the longest streaks may be close to ending as they play St Kitts & Nevis this evening. Aside from this obviously there will be the dot plots to assess – In December these suggested three 25bp rate cuts by the end of this year. We do…

Having got back from 3 weeks abroad and tentatively stepped onto the scales I quickly decided it was probably time to lose some of that Christmas weight!! Easier said than done as everyone knows and temptation is absolutely everywhere in this office – Krispy Kreme’s yesterday, Ole & Steen Cinamon Social today being paraded through the room. It appears one of the few problems with becoming a bigger firm is that there is a birthday nearly every day! Ben and Jerry’s and Magnum’s were talk of the o…

I announced the start of Spring this morning and was quickly corrected that that isn’t until the early hours of Wednesday morning but there is something about the light in the morning that just energises one’s self. Equity markets didn’t quite get the memo with developed indices broadly trading within a few bps of where they closed Friday. Central Banks spring into action overnight with the BoJ kicking off a bumper few days where the commentary is likely more up in the air than the decisions th…

A Friday feel to Thursday today but possibly in anticipation of a Thursday feel to Friday’s tape tomorrow. Quarterly options expiries and index reweights providing a liquidity event ahead of a jam packed macro week next week. There was a bit to keep on top off as we headed in the afternoon and it finally felt like both Yields and Equities couldn’t continue to climb in tandem. Yields had a sizeable move post a hotter than expected PPI – U.S PPI was stronger than expected up from 1.0% in January…