Gerald Fitzgerald’s Market Review November 26th

LAST WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

Heightened uncertainty surrounding the prospects for future global growth drove markets lower over the week. The tech heavy NASDAQ led the charge lower and was down -4.3% with global markets more generally following a similar trend. Gold and Government bonds provided some refuge with the precious commodity +0.2% and US treasuries down 2 basis points over the week.

Closer to home discussions, continued last week on both Brexit and the Italian budget with limited progress being made on either obstacle. As a result, ongoing Sterling and Euro weakness saw major peers including the US dollar and Yen attaining further gains over both currencies.

THIS WEEK IN 30 SECONDS...

Donald Trump will once again take centre stage this week as the G20 summit takes place in Argentina. Markets will watch closely for any signs of a warming in trade tensions between the US and China.

The US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on Wednesday with close attention being paid on the outlook for further US interest rate rises.
From an economic data perspective, US and Eurozone inflation metrics are due out Thursday and Friday respectively.

FAANG STOCKS LOSING THEIR BITE

Thus far Q4 2018 has been a difficult quarter for equities with global equities down -7.5% over the period. This pales, however, when compared to the FAANG sell-off with concerns as to future growth forecasts weighing heavily on their stock prices. Returns for FAANG stocks over the same period range between -14.8% and -32.1%.