Going to file this in the category of ‘things you don’t see very often’: Stoxx Oil & Gas vs Stoxx Basic Resources had its widest spread in performance (7.3%) since the 9th March 2020. If that isn’t the sort of dislocation that gives you a bit of life on a damp Thursday morning I don’t know what will. The main story remains China and I thinks it’s fair to call this week some of the most concerted, concise efforts to convince the markets that this time is real, significant and signals a turning p…

“Use it, or lose it” one of my favourite Referee sayings from my younger days playing Rugby in the driving rain and wind on a fairly waterlogged Scottish pitch. Fairly nostalgic but I heard it today in a completely different context as we had time to look at Q4 and more importantly our remaining holiday days left to take – no one wants to lose holiday days due to erm…not taking them! Q3 Earnings really kick off on the 10th/11th October so I’m dashing away next week though probably wont find wea…

Is this the turning point for China the question on everyone’s minds today.. and probably rightly so! News overnight of a ‘Stimulus blitz’ by China as Bloomberg described it across many areas from a cut to the 7 day RRR and Policy rate cut as well more support for the property market and some markets stability initiatives also. A lot to go through and digest though the market reaction on the face of it all quite orderly and somewhat predictable. Anything remotely exposed to China has been the l…

A ‘Monday-like Monday’ the best way to describe today as Equity markets failed to get into 2nd gear (Stoxx 600 +40bps) though that isn’t out of the norm for Mondays at the moment. A day to assess some poor European data, talk about the weather (which just so happens is equally as damp as the data) more than normal and to get things in order for the week ahead. A raft of European PMI’s one of the only things to grab from this mornings session – The main trend/theme change was that services PMI’…

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…

Good things come to those who wait *apparently* and given the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, here’s to hoping that the Fed can gift us with some early fireworks later to kick things into gear after what has been a relatively muted September thus far. No doubt that there is lots to play for, equities are a stones throw away from all-time highs, the Yen is hovering just above 141.7 (Aug’s carry-trade unwind level) and the CNN fear & greed indicator has flipped back into ‘Greed’ fo…

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…

Now obviously it’s a sackable offence to start talking about Christmas while the clocks haven’t even gone back yet, but here at the Snapshot we can tick one thing off your to-do list. Yes, your Christmas presents are sorted. Look no further than a new entrant to the jewellery market with sausage roll earrings that are surely the look for every aspiring model at London Fashion Week. Silly season hopefully coming to an end in the papers with this story and the real news begins this evening of cou…