Gerald Fitzgerald’s Market Review February 10th

LAST WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

Global markets rebounded strongly last week as Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry saw
him acquitted of any wrongdoing, whilst the coronavirus containment measures implemented by China along with their central bank adding further liquidity appeased
markets.

Despite the potential impact on global growth from the ongoing health crisis, global equities in euro terms finished the week 3.8% higher and yields on high quality sovereign bonds rose marginally. The potential impact on demand for commodities arising from the effective
shutdown of industry in China saw WTI Crude Oil fall to marginally above $50 a barrel.

THIS WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

The week ahead sees Ireland and further afield digest the national election results, which will likely see the formation of a government taking a prolonged period and even the potential for some pre-election pledges to be broken.

From an economic data perspective, Eurozone industrial production details are due for release on Wednesday, US inflation releases on Thursday along with Eurozone GDP figures on Friday. Elsewhere, this week sees the largest quarterly earnings disclosures with nearly
5,000 announcements due including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Heineken.

BITCOIN’S RESURGENCE

Fear and uncertainty have an interesting way of pushing investors towards alternatives. Bitcoin has once again benefited from market volatility generated in large part from the coronavirus to see the digital coin value briefly surpassing $10,000, almost triple the valuation at the beginning
of 2019.