The recent slump in Chinese markets has set off alarm bells across the world as indexes in the world’s second largest economy had soared this year. China’s stock markets either under-performed or matched expectations when its economy was booming and began to surge when the economy started to show signs of a slowdown since the second-half of last year, showing …
One Man’s Opinion: Does The June Jobs Report Show That A Rate Hike Is Unlikely This Year?
The latest non-farm payroll report showed the US economy added 223,000 jobs in June, well below expectations for a 245,000 increase, and when the net 60,000 downward revision for the previous two months are factored in, the moot question that needs to be asked is whether the markets were actually overzealous about labor market conditions, said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist …
One Man’s Opinion: Will Equity Markets Provide Double-Digit Returns In The Second Half Of 2015?
Investment Guru Carl Icahn’s recent observation about inflated asset prices and a probable sharp pull-back in equity indices caused some volatility for the stock markets this week. The reality is when investors look at the second half, they have to measure their expectations a little bit, said Michael Fredericks, Managing Director at BlackRock Asset Allocation. Valuations of most asset classes …
One Man’s Opinion: Will Earnings Expectations Improve After The Second Quarter?
Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ saw a surge toward the end of the week, and the rally is likely to sustain taking the indexes to the next level, said Brad McMillan, CIO at Commonwealth Financial Network. The economy is expected not only to expand, but also accelerate. Neither consumers nor investors have factored in that scenario till now, which …
One Man’s Opinion: Does The Federal Reserve Want Longer-Term Interest Rates To Rise?
Central banks in Europe and Japan have committed quantitative easing worth $1 trillion each while the People’s Bank of China has started with its own easing measures off late. When the money printing stops, liquidity would dry up, further exacerbating an already deteriorating global liquidity scenario, said Bill Gross, portfolio manager of Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund. It’s natural to …
One Man’s Opinion: Does The US Labor Market Data Indicate Stronger GDP Growth?
The latest nonfarm payrolls data showed the US economy added 280,000 jobs in May, which reassures investors that the jobs trend is clearly above 200,000 gains per month, said Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs. There was some doubt after March’s very weak employment report – the economy added only 85,000 jobs for the month, before the upward revision …