Market News

Ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was detained in Germany after entering self-imposed exile from Spain. He faces up to 25 years in prison for organising an illegal secession referendum last year. Spain’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that 25 Catalan leaders would be tried for rebellion, embezzlement …..

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin won a landslide re-election for another six year term. This victory will extend his total time in office to nearly a quarter of a century until 2024.

Prime Minister Theresa May gave 23 officials operating out of the Russian embassy one week’s notice to leave the UK, saying these individuals were effectively spies. She braced the country for further attacks. Her retaliation came after the first use of a nerve agent on European soil since World War II as a former spy and his daughter were poisoned.

Angela Merkel will serve a fourth term as chancellor as the two main German parties, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats will form a coalition to govern the country. This was an overcome hurdle to her fourth term which will bring more stability to the German economy. The result was 66 percent in favour to 34 percent against, a wider than expected margin.

Italy will go to the polls on the 4th March. The latest polls point to a hung parliament, where no one party or coalition has a majority to form a government. Should this happen, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, will call on parties to form a broader coalition of pre-election adversaries which could include the ruling centre-left Democratic Party and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.

The unemployment rate in France dropped below nine per cent for the first time since 2009. The rate fell to 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from 9.6 per cent in the previous three months according to national statistics office INSEE. This was the steepest drop since the 2008 financial crisis.

According to Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), sharp swings in global financial markets in the past few days are not worrying since economic growth is strong but reforms are still needed to avert future crises. She further added that economies are also supported by plenty of financing available.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX index) which is a gauge of market expectations of near-term volatility breached 50 to touch its highest level since the China devaluation of the yuan in 2015. What has begun with rising bond yields became a selloff across the global equity markets last week, as investors feared the return of inflation and higher rates which could erode profitability for companies already trading at high valuations.

The policy meeting held on Wednesday was the last one for Janet Yellen as Fed Chair and head of the central Bank. The Committee had unanimously selected Powell to succeed Yellen, effective 3rd February. Powell who is a Fed governor has worked closely with Yellen, was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the US Senate.

S&P Global Ratings upgraded the country’s credit ratings for the first time in two years by raising it one level, helping the government’s plan to continue a bond-market comeback this year. The country’s long-term foreign currency debt was upgraded to B with a positive outlook from B-, according to S&P.

This week saw major digital currencies suffering declines, with the bitcoin dropping below $10,000 bringing its loss to almost 50 percent from a record a month ago as scrutiny from regulators around the world weighs on the digital coin craze. Other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and litecoin also stumbled.

As the year came to an end and with solid economic growth, euro area inflation slowed to 1.4 percent in December from 1.5 percent in November. The data highlights the difficulty for the ECB in judging when to withdraw from the stimulus measures, although …..