Market Talk — May 20, 2016

The market seems happy that the JPY trades comfortable north of 110 as we saw a small 0.5% gain in the Nikkei today. Hang Seng performed better closing up over 1%. with Shanghai also closing near its highs. A quiet session to close the week but at least on a positive note.

A quiet but very positive play in Europe also today. The stand-out performance were from FTSE and CAC both closing up 1.7% while DAX and IBEX returned 1.15% a piece. Unfortunately, GBP lost around 1% against the USD today which negates some of the FTSE gains.

A quiet day in the US markets also but after the losses we saw earlier in the week a small rebound was very welcome. We closed way off the days best and in a quiet session but it has been a week many are happy to see the back of. The DOW and S+P closed up around 0.3% whilst the NASDAQ closed up over 1% higher. The VIX came off its highs closing this evening at 15.2.

A quiet day also in Treasuries after the early sell-off we closed a smidgen higher (price, lower yield), with the curve small flattening. 2’s closed the session at 0.88% while 10’s closed 1.84% (-2bp); closing the 2/10 curve at +96bp. German 10yr Bund closed 0.165% (-1bp) ending the US/German 10yr spread at +167.5bp. Italy 10yr closed 1.47% (-2bp), Greece 7.31% (-1bp), Turkey 10.03% (+1bp), Portugal 3.08% (+2bp) and Gilts closed 1.45% (+1p).

Makes you think when you are writing a market comment when the yield for a 10yr government bond is 1.45% yet the currency lost 1% in todays session!