Flash boursier

Last week culminated in a sharp recovery in equity markets against a backdrop of easing bond yields. Risk appetite is back after a gloomy month of October. Tech stocks, which are more sensitive to changes in interest rates, have pulled up strongly.

The reaction by US bond markets has been spectacular, with the US 10-year Treasury yield falling sharply to 4.50%. The yield on the German counterpart eased to 2.65%.

Several factors drove this solid performance by financial markets last week. Firstly, the US Treasury has revealed a long-term financing plan that is slightly less burdensome than initially expected. Secondly, the Fed unanimously decided to keep benchmark policy rates unchanged for a second consecutive time, in line with expectations. Finally, the Fed chair’s remarks, commenting on the rate decision, were taken to suggest that monetary tightening had run its course.

Macroeconomic data, especially job figures, showed signs of losing traction. The private sector added just 113,000 new jobs in October, compared with expectations for 150,000. Furthermore, the US economy added 150,000 non-farm jobs in the same month, which was also lower than forecast (200,000).

US manufacturing activity slipped into contraction territory last month, with the ISM survey result decreasing to 46.7 in October, marking the twelfth consecutive monthly decline. This also represented a faster rate than in the previous month.

In Europe, macroeconomic data pointed to slowing inflation in more than one country. Taking the currency bloc as a whole, prices were up 2.9% year-on-year in October, slowing from 4.3% in September thanks to lower oil and gas prices.

The Eurozone economy contracted in the third quarter and did not stagnate as expected. GDP edged down by 0.1% between July and September in relation to the preceding three months. Year-on-year, economic growth was a meagre 0.1%.

Chinese manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in October, with the specific PMI clocking in at 49.5 in October compared with 50.6 the previous month. In contrast, activity in the services sector remained solid for the tenth month in a row, though not exhibiting strong growth. In other stats, economic growth eased slightly in the third quarter to 4.9% year-on-year.

The S&P 500 ended the week ahead by 5.85% while the tech-focused Nasdaq swung upwards by 6.61%. The Stoxx 600 Europe index rose by 3.45% last week.