May 2, 2019 – Over the past several months, expectations (and hopes) have been building that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may be moving toward rate cuts in the face of stubbornly low inflation, a move that would likely be helpful to equities. No one really expected the central bank to cut rates this week, but it appears that some investors were hoping for hints that it may be tilting more in that direction, and some apparently read the initial statement as just such a hint.
April 8, 2019 – Indian general elections are scheduled to begin on April 11, lasting through May 19. These elections have the potential to be largely consequential not just for India, but also for the performance of emerging markets equities at large. Over the previous five years, Indian equities have outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index due in part to the current pro-business administration.
March 22, 2019—On Friday, the slope of the Treasury yield curve inverted between the 10-year and 3-month Treasuries (in other words, the yield on a 3-month Treasury exceeded that of a 10-year Treasury), with the 10-year yield falling to as low as 2.42% intraday—the lowest since the start of the year—and the 3-month yield holding fairly steady at 2.45% (Figure 1). Financial media outlets sounded the alarm bells, and equity markets sold off sharply by mid-day.
