A hawkish 50bp cut – now I’ve heard it all!!…..But that is what we got and the market positively loved it! The Stoxx 600 climbed 1.4% buoyed by renewed hope of a successful soft landing and seemingly undeterred by the hawkish dot plot/messaging from the Fed in terms of what is to come. Powell channelling his inner Simone Biles if he manages to pirouette, twist, turn, flip, flip again and stick this but so far….so good! Our view – The FOMC has clearly prioritised preserving strong growth and fu…

So he uses the distribution list but doesn’t fancy actually Hijacking the Snapshot itself!? All for good reason it has to be said as he hosted what was a great and insightful call with indeed some of our finest minds hoping to point out a few things people should be focussed on as we attempt to navigate the rest of 2024 without too much stress. Loads of things discussed including what would Trump mean for inflation/Stagflation, what makes us think CPI is going to pick up into year end, why we f…

One of those ‘not much to see here folks’ days in European equities where we followed the U.S. higher in early trading and drifted a little throughout the session as it seemed the Jensen Huang surge ran out of a little steam. The Stoxx 600 ended +80bps but traded within a pretty tight range on a fairly uneventful day it has to be said. U.S. data was broadly in line with expectations (which always helps) for PPI and Jobless claims and nothing really to trouble the scorers post yesterday’s CPI wi…

It’s all about living life on the wild side and that meant a long weekend spent at London Zoo, power washing the patio and hanging a number pictures on the wall that have been collecting dust for… erm…quite some time. Productivity levels high in the Morrison household and September really does feel like a big month on that front for the whole of the market. Investors back in their seats, volumes picking up, out of office replies dwindling – all things pointing towards quite a big few weeks ahe…

I was trying desperately to think of reasons not to compose a Snapshot today (plenty) but there was just enough out to convince me it was the right thing to do despite the Stoxx 600 ending the day flat. Our U.S/Canadian friends off for Labor day and the Labor market feels like number one focus as we get the next NFP reading this Friday which will go a long way to dictate the size of the first Fed cut later this month (Remember what happened last NFP!?!). Seasonality isn’t great for the next few…

Hold the press – we had a very late entry to the Biscuit competition and it has gone right to the top of the charts – A Garibaldi. How have I never had one of these before?! Not too sweet, certainly not to be dunked in a cuppa but its stood the test of time, being consumed for over 150 years! Looking at the session today it turned out that Nvidia wasn’t that important for us in Europe as the Stoxx 600 headed towards a new all-time high but didn’t quite make it (DAX did make an all-time high) a…

The more I thought about today’s session the less it seemed to matter as the countdown clock ticks ever closer to go time for the most anticipated (and arguably most important) set of numbers for the year? Yes Europe will be a little more sheltered given the lack of AI exposure but given the size of the implied move (c$300bn mkt cap swing in either direction) it will have a fairly significant impact on the next directional move for the whole Equity complex it feels. Ahead is a tricky seasonal…

Back from the Bank Holiday and Keir Starmer didn’t waste any time in warning us that the autumn Budget is going to be ‘painful’. Brilliant. BBQ’s are still warm, Notting Hill filled with debris from the Carnival and barely 10am before he dropped that gem. It probably shouldn’t come as a huge surprise given the recent chatter about public finances but it did sour the mood. Lifting the mood news that Oasis announced a reunion tour in the UK, I was asked ‘would I try buy tickets this weekend?’… I…

It’s very quiet out there and the first thing to note is we’re on track for the lowest volume week YTD and that won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s had the short straw at working this week! The Stoxx 600 ended the day up 35bps and resumed bumping higher without too many noticing. The Euro Stoxx 50 and Stoxx 600 are back above the 200dma which is encouraging and many once again will be hoping that the Japanese CPI, Ueda testimony and Powell’s Jackson Hole testimony all pass fairly smoothly…

There was barely more out today than yesterday to justify a Snapshot (executive decision taken) but with very little else to do with volumes collapsing into an August chasm I thought I’d use my time wisely. The low volume grind higher which has been ongoing with very little fanfare or excitement (and hardly any incoming) took a pause today as things ran out of steam a little with the Stoxx 600 ending the day -45bps. The S&P 500 would be up for the 9th day in a row if it were to close higher tod…