by Oussama Himani | Nov 29, 2017 | Markets |
The global economy is experiencing a highly-synchronised acceleration of growth. The expansion is broad based, covering all major economies and regions. Despite the absence of inflationary pressures, the strength of US data has helped affirm the Fed’s monetary...
by Oussama Himani | Aug 18, 2017 | Markets |
Since November 2016 we have taken the view, that long term interest rates are set to rise. We believed the Trump administration would enact expansionary fiscal policies. With the economy near full employment and wage pressures rising, the stage is set for inflationary...
by Oussama Himani | Jun 26, 2017 | Markets |
Two months before its due date, the USD 2.1bn PDVSA bond maturing in April 2017 was trading at 36 cents to the dollar, a sign that Venezuela was about to default. However, against all odds, on April 6th, PDVSA paid and bondholders got their hopes up again. Just two...
by Oussama Himani | Jun 6, 2017 | Markets |
Since the Brexit referendum last June, economic fundamentals have defied expectations of a sharp slowdown. Despite considerable policy uncertainty, consumer spending remained buoyant, industrial activity and business investment held up well. Remarkably, the...
by Oussama Himani | Apr 4, 2017 | Markets |
Just over a year ago, global markets were unsettled by concerns over China’s decelerating growth. Investors focussed on the mounting leverage in the economy. Commodity prices plummeted. Relatively minor (albeit abrupt) changes to the currency basket were viewed as...
by Oussama Himani | Feb 20, 2017 | Markets |
The equity market rally that followed Trump’s election was in our view largely driven by expectations of tax cuts increasing corporate earnings. For the positive momentum to be sustained there needs to be firmer prospects of economic growth gaining traction. It is...
