Gerald Fitzgerald’s Market Review November 18th

LAST WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

Markets moved higher last week, most notably the US NASDAQ and S&P500 climbing to fresh highs as corporate earnings results and a lack of political noise continued to support positive market sentiment.

Within the Eurozone, Germany managed to avoid a technical recession as its quarterly GDP numbers surprised on the upside, whilst across the Atlantic US inflation was higher than expected rising to 1.8% to end September. Global equities finished the week 0.3% higher in euro terms.

THIS WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

From an economic data perspective the week ahead sees Eurozone PMI disclosures on Friday, with the US also set to disclosure its latest unemployment update and housing statistics during the week.

Elsewhere, political activity ramps up this week as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn hold their first televised debate ahead of the UK general election on December 12th. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s twitter feed will continue to be scrutinised as he juggles amongst other items, the ongoing impeachment inquiry and trade negotiations with China.

HONG KONG CLASHES HITTING HOME MARKET

The effect of ongoing clashes between demonstrators and the Hong Kong government has seen a divergence in performance between the domestic and mainland Chinese stock market in recent months. Whilst global equity markets have been strongly supported, the Hong Kong stock market is up a mere 5.5% for the year-to-date.