Click here to view this email in your browser (mmmmaven.com/daily-market-update-dmu/)
Sign Up Here (mmmmaven.com/dmu-sign-up/) for Free to the DMU Email me to provide feedback
Contents Click on the links below to get to the stuff you really really want. USA – Stocks and bond yields down as virus worries and domestic politics muddy the outlook; Tech stocks resilient (#USA) UK – Stocks battered by renewed lockdown worries; Food retailers up, everything else down; Falling pound takes slight edge off (#UK) Continental Europe – As UK but slightly worse, investigation into US banks didn’t help (#Europe) Elsewhere – Losses continued from Monday (#Elsewhere) WTF – Ruth Bader Ginsburg (#WTF) Links (#Useful) Numbers (#Numbers) Ts & Cs (#Ts+Cs)
————————————————————
USA
Global stock prices tumbled yesterday. There wasn’t much new on the agenda, it was just a case of the existing problems looming larger.
In the US, as elsewhere, virus concerns were rising. But, unlike the rest of the world, US domestic politics also came to the fore. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court Justice (i.e. the ultimate judge), died a few days ago after many years of much lauded service (see WTF). Trump is now trying to get her replaced with someone who supports him before the 3 November election, this could help to swing the final decision on a close election in his favour.
In the meantime, the debate over extending the support package for households suffering as a result of the lockdown is likely to be further delayed while the Supreme Court Justice process is pushed in. That has obvious economic implications: less help, less spending, economy suffers more.
Add to that the latest shenanigans between the US and China and you have a recipe for falling stock prices. Tech stocks held up because they are expected to be fairly resilient during a further lockdown. Everything else was down, leaving the S&P 500 1.2% lower on the day.
Demand for lower-risk rated investments, such as government bonds, rose sending their prices up and yields down. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury (US government bond) dropped from above 0.69% to below 0.66% during trading yesterday.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
————————————————————
UK
It was more simple and brutal in the UK. Stocks were battered by concerns of a second lockdown. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the like did well as folk anticipated another round of panic-buying. Everything else was down with tech stocks having the least-bad time of it, while anything travel- or leisure-related got absolutely creamed.
The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 dropped by 3.4% and 4.0% respectively. The value of the pound fell as folk anticipated a harsher-than-expected outlook for the UK economy, that took a tiny bit of the edge off falls experienced by exporters, but not enough to make anyone feel better.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
————————————————————
Continental Europe
On the continent, if anything, it was slightly worse. Every single stock listed on both the Euro Stoxx 50 and the German DAX dropped. Financial stocks had the worst of it, not helped by an investigation into US banks’ potential misbehaviour over recent years, and the prospects of very low interest rates for a few years yet.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
————————————————————
Elsewhere
Same story across the Asia Pacific region as well. The falls here aren’t as bad because they kicked off their declines yesterday. Japan managed to post a small gain overall, but it’s very much the exception.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
————————————————————
WTF (What’s The Fact?)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday at the age of 87. She was only the second female appointed as the head of the US Supreme Court. She fought tirelessly for equality across gender, race and orientation. She did so in the face of huge pressure and vested interests. In 2016, Republican senators lined up to say that the new Supreme Justice, if a new one were to be chosen, should not be chosen during 2016, an election year, stating that “the American people should have a say”. On Friday, two hours after Ginsburg died, Senator Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, announced that Trump’s nominee for replacement would receive a vote on the floor of the US Senate (which has a Republican majority). He’s the one who made that comment about the American people having a say. Ginsburg’s legacy deserves better.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
————————————————————
Links
Investopedia (www.investopedia.com/dictionary/) – Loads of free explanations of financial terms including some helpful videos. Not 100% accurate, but a good starting point Guffipedia (ig.ft.com/sites/guffipedia/) – Lucy Kellaway of the FT has collected some painful examples of corporate people disappearing up their own analogies Guardian (www.theguardian.com) – Free to access website with a couple of decent columnists (e.g. Nils Pratley and Larry Elliott) Times of India (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) – Why use five words when 37 will do? Daily Mail (www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-war-on-stupid-people/485618) – Click it. I dare you.
Back to Contents (#Contents)
———————————————————— IMPORTANT This is my opinion. Yes I read a lot and share what I’ve read with you, but this content remains my opinion. It’s NOT advice. If you take my advice – don’t take my advice. Any decisions you make about investments, your hairstyle or whether or not to eat marzipan are entirely at your own behest. If you are too stupid to recognise the devil’s ear wax when you see it, then you’re on your own.
————————————————————
============================================================ Copyright © 2020 Chris Hurst, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can ** update your preferences (funnymoney.us4.list-manage.com/profile?u=09a51282c76deb2dc44653051&id=dcc3fa0043&e=f68b7163ab) or ** unsubscribe from this list (funnymoney.us4.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=09a51282c76deb2dc44653051&id=dcc3fa0043&e=f68b7163ab&c=a92ade168e) .