Sell in May and go away? Well at or near all-time highs it feels a bit like just go away as the one thing consistently missing for the last few sessions is volumes. Terrible in the U.S. towards the end of last week with various stats indicating things dying a death and Friday was the lowest volume day YTD and sadly today doesn’t look any better. Things no better here in Europe with a lack of any notable weekend news and with some important data on the horizon today was broadly one to forget as…

Is June now in play for both the UK and the ECB was the question raised today as the Bank Of England kept rates on hold but said a June rate cut was not ruled out though also wasn’t planned. There were two voters for a cut (we had predicted one) and based on current market interest rate expectations (4.79% by Q4 2024) the MPC forecasts CPI inflation will be below 2% in two years’ time (1.9%). This suggests two 25bp rate cuts are likely this year (and we still see August and November) but the qu…

Everyone feels better when the sun is shining and Equities are making new highs….right? Or maybe that was just me after a cheeky long weekend in Cornwall which was amazing but quite why it is so far away and tricky to get too I will never understand. A very summery feeling within the City of London greeting us today – The days are lighter, pubs are busier but importantly corporates are dealing fairly well with high expectations and higher interest rates and we’re still close to or at all-time h…

Bolstered by renewed rate cut expectations after the Powell press conference and the cool payrolls last week, long May Day weekend dinner table conversations seem to have included a few bulls asking – Have Yields peaked?? Or so it seems – as we have hit the ground running with every sector trading higher today in Europe following the strength in the U.S. (all their major averages above their 50dma) as the market is now pricing in two rate cuts this year (US2yr under the 5% potential peak). Ano…

Giving a little bit away here but in Q2 2016 I was just a young whippersnapper starting out on my sales-trading career, focussed on getting buy and sell the right way around, remembering that Norway shuts an hour early and, I have to admit, I had a bit more hair than I do now. But it was also the last time the European Midcaps (MCXE) outperformed the Euro Stoxx (SXXE) by as much as they have done so far this week. Too early to scream ‘trend change’ given they and the Smalls (SCXE) have underper…

May Day holiday tomorrow, so we got what feels like 2 days in 1 with plenty of volumes, news, and interesting ideas… HSBC kicked it off out in Hong Kong and rallied 4% on numbers as CEO plans his exit, Samsung +2% on strong AI demand, GALP hit record highs on their quarter, Whitbread gained 4% on the buyback and cost cuts (but needs overall trading to improve to get us positive), K+S guided higher mid-morning, and then PLAYTECH rallied 18% the past 2 days yet has us all looking for news to ju…

A weird start to a fairly weird week which includes market holidays, a Fed rate decision, key data across the globe, month end, corporate earnings and as a result a fairly hesitant start. The Stoxx 600 gained a few bps and manage to close the day higher but without much style and fanfare when the day’s range stayed within an incredibly tight 35bps. That could probably end the Snapshot if we were keeping things super snappy but there was maybe a little bit more to mention. In macro German CPI wa…

There was something for everyone today: For the stock picking purists there was 70 odd European companies updating us today on how they’ve coped so far in 2024. The good news is that it is the most we’ll hear from in a single day for the quarter so the load will lighten from here on out. Another frantic morning made even the more interesting by M&A headlines within the mining sector as BHP drew up an approach for Anglo American which, if successful, would be the biggest shake up the industry ha…

A little delay to the Snapshot as days like today are hard to succinctly put into a couple of paragraphs. Lots of noise and a fast start as everyone tries to assess the earnings that rattle through at speed that shows no concern for the people trying to do the assessing. It always settles soon after the open with a bit more calm which is the thing we all have to have in mind especially ahead of a reporting schedules like tomorrow! The marathon of a week is now 60% complete and it feels like we’…

After a shoddy Six Nations campaign I’ve shifted my focus well and truly to the Euros and Scotland’s tilt at a generational changing title to put ourselves on the footballing map forever. A mouthwatering opening fixture vs Germany in Munich (Scott McTominay brace coming) followed by a clash vs Switzerland in Cologne which I’m very much hoping to attend. Flights booked but tickets are extremely hard to come by as Scottish fans amongst others fly over in their droves. The scarcity and demand woul…