Wall Street finished lower on Friday, weighed down by Big Tech as investors worried about the Omicron coronavirus variant and digested the Federal Reserve’s decision to end its pandemic-era stimulus faster.
Stock moves were magnified by intense activity in the options market, potentially making Friday one of the busiest trading days of the year due to the S&P Dow Jones Indices quarterly re-balance, which comes into effect after markets close on Friday. It is also “quadruple witching” day in U.S. markets, when options and futures on indexes and equities expire. With options expiring, volume on U.S. exchanges jumped to 16.6 billion shares, far above the 11.9 billion average over the last 20 trading days on Friday.
The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
In today’s show we look at the latest from the markets, consider the proposals for digital currency reform in Australia, and look at a weak report on the Bank of Mum and Dad from the Productivity Commission.
First as expected, we flipped back to buy mode on the markets, as the impact of Omicron is re-calibrated, and ahead of the US inflation number at the end of the week. We keep flipping from buying value stocks to growth and back.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
The Fed has to balance full employment and stable prices. Today we got the signal that the latter rather than the former is now set to take centre stage. This is significant, to say the least when market values are bloated thanks to money printing, and inflation fears are rife – despite the unknowable impact of Omicron. This is significant for the US and global markets, as well as our own.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell comments on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, where both Democrats and Republicans expressed concerns about high prices, were taken as a hawkish pivot by financial markets that could deliver sooner-than-expected increases in interest rates next year.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
The Fed has to balance full employment and stable prices. Today we got the signal that the latter rather than the former is now set to take centre stage. This is significant, to say the least when market values are bloated thanks to money printing, and inflation fears are rife – despite the unknowable impact of Omicron. This is significant for the US and global markets, as well as our own.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell comments on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, where both Democrats and Republicans expressed concerns about high prices, were taken as a hawkish pivot by financial markets that could deliver sooner-than-expected increases in interest rates next year.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
The extended stock values around the world, created by too much Central Bank and Government financial support, makes them prone to react to news be it bad or good in a more extreme way. As we said a couple of days back, given the liquidity often it’s a matter of switching between sectors based on the latest news trail but Black Friday turned into Red Friday as markets reacted to the news of a potentially dangerous new virus strain – now named the omicron strain. This was an dis-quieting wake-up call.
In the past we have seen dramatic V-shaped reversals, so it’s a question of being patient and waiting for what unfolds in the early part of next week. Often during holiday periods, we do see the market makers develop trap moves on low volume and low liquidity.
The other question testing markets is their belief that The Fed will step in to prevent market falls, as they have done consistently over recent years. But the new take on inflation, as represented by Powell’s acceptance statement – which referred to inflation management as a key priority suggests more limited room for manoeuvre. And horror of horrors, what if the FED does not protect investors, well then, the over cooked markets are due for a significant correction. Valuations are simply not justified on current metrics.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
I had a visit from David Llewellyn-Smith from MacroBusiness and Damien Klassen from Nucleus Wealth and Walk The World Funds. We recorded a discussion on some of the underlying drivers behind the economy.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Unscrambling The Macroeconomic Omelette With David Llewellyn-Smith And Damien Klassen [Podcast]
New data highlights the housing affordability issues across Australia, and another major bank comes out with a forecast fall in home prices ahead. Things in property are getting interesting. So I am now waiting for the next Government response – how about yet more first time buyer bribes, or financial support direct to developers? With an election in the wind, the Government will want to find some way to prop up the market for the next few months, before a later collapse. So expect more unnatural acts ahead – unnatural from an economic and social perspective but unfortunately totally logical from a win at all costs, never mind the price attitude we have seen from this Government.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
As the northern hemisphere falls towards winter, the economic signs are not promising.
The world economy is approaching the northern hemisphere winter in disarray, unable to shake off the coronavirus crisis amid persisting supply disruptions, soaring prices and resurgent outbreaks.
Global surveys of purchasing managers this week are likely to point that way. Among the outcomes anticipated by economists are slowing manufacturing and services activity throughout the euro zone and the U.K., and only modest improvement in the U.S.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
In today’s show we have a brief look at the markets as the contention between inflation fears, rates rises and more lock downs rose to fever pitch – pun intended. The markets are still banking on more Central Bank support.
So the NASDAQ Composite Index closed above the 16,000 mark for the first time on Friday, in its second-straight record finish, while the Dow succumbed to its fourth losing session in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s second-successive weekly loss wiped out the last of its November gains, extending the index’s drop from a Nov. 8 record high.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
I am old enough to remember the 1970’s when central bankers were claiming inflation was temporary, before it took off into the teens and beyond. While I am not suggesting history will repeat, we can see the weird dynamic, with greed driving markets one way, inflation fears pulling in a different direction, and renewed lock-downs in some places adding to the uncertainty.
Global markets have surged during the pandemic, fueled by massive stimulus that has also stoked profits at banks such as Goldman. Concern is now rising that accelerating inflation will pose a challenge to a sustained recovery as central banks may be forced to raise interest rates in response.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
The Twilight Zone Between Inflation and Lock-downs Haunt The Markets [Podcast]
