Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus, a shock-wave has hit the financial markets. In the past week, stock markets around the globe suffered as seldom seen before. During these dire times, we feel the need to share our views on the markets with you. We are faced with a ‘black swan’ effect, since nobody expected […]

For most investors, 2019 turned out to be a great year. Interest rates, which once again dropped sharply during the year, were the driving force behind these excellent results. The most important reference points in 2019 were: · The German 10 year Bund dropped from +0,2% to -0,3% · The US 10 year Treasury Bills […]

Fixed Income The ECB as expected announced in September a list of decisions to prop up inflation expectations: the interest rate of the deposit facility was lowered by -0,10% to -0.50%, an APP Asset Purchase Program, a new QE, will kick off as of 1 November, at a monthly pace of EUR 20bn, as long […]

Let’s start this newsflash with an overview of the current state of ‘the wall of worry’. What is keeping investors awake at night? A current hot-topic is the Democrats’ decision to open an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. We make no judgement on the gravity of this case. However, this procedure could take months, […]

Never mind the volatility on the equity markets. Forget about stock prices and their occasionally strong fluctuations. What you have to remember about 2019 is the disappearance of positive interest rates. Feel free to compare Mario Draghi and Jerome Powell to magicians who have performed an impressive vanishing trick. They made the “positive interest rates” […]

Bond markets The main driver behind an extraordinary first half of the year 2019 has been an unexpected decline in interest rates. In fact, even the strong performance of the recovering stock markets, which had suffered from big losses towards the end of 2018, were outpaced by the falling interest rates. Just when everyone agreed […]